It Should Have Been Me
by Ted Sadler
Summary: Jack is back in Sam's life, and she's not in control. Finished!
1. Pleased to See You Again

It Should Have Been Me  
  
By Ted Sadler  
  
Copyright © 2004  
  
All publicly recognisable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognised characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.  
  
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Chapter 1 - Pleased to see you again  
  
"I ask you once again." insisted Colonel O'Neill from his place at the far end of the briefing room table. "This 'device' is worth almost any price that they're asking, right? *Any* price at all?"  
  
"As I've already explained twice, Sir," insisted Major Samantha Carter through momentarily clenched teeth, "it most certainly is. Without question. And not only for military purposes. The Andans' subspace multiplier can double or treble the output from generators, batteries and dynamos of almost any size. So not only can we miniaturise the equipment needed to power almost any electrical or mechanical device, we can significantly reduce global pollution and conserve natural resources. I ask you, Sir, whether there could conceivably be *anything* in goods or services that wouldn't be worth offering to a race sufficiently close to us in so many ways for such a prize. The negotiations have reached an advanced stage and should draw to a conclusion - a *positive* conclusion, I may add, within days."  
  
She stared hard at the man she had thought about often during the last four months, after he had seemingly deliberately cut himself off from his former SG-1 colleagues. She had spent only two hours in his presence during the meeting and he had spoken only in the last ten minutes, and already she felt irritated by his negative attitude and persistent questioning about a project that was so near to success. However his next statement took her a little by surprise.  
  
"That's what worries me." said Jack. "But if so many experts here are in harmony, who am I to disagree?" He looked across at General Hammond as if for approval, and Sam noticed the grave expression on the CO's face as he gave Jack an almost imperceptible nod. She looked back at Jack and could not miss the grim set of his jaw.  
  
"Very well." said Hammond. "The mission to complete the trade negotiations on the Andan homeworld will proceed as scheduled tomorrow, departing at 0800 hours. Major Carter, you will be in overall charge. You will lead SG-1 augmented by Captain Hailey, who will assist in the technological evaluation. SG-13 will accompany you to engage in secondary-level talks with the Andans on the subjects discussed earlier." Sam and the others started clearing the papers in front of them in anticipation of the meeting being brought to a close. They were halted by the General's next words.  
  
"Colonel O'Neill will also accompany you to Andar but will not be part of your command and will not participate in the talks. He will report directly to me if at all feasible during the mission. Should that not prove possible, you will follow his orders in the event of an emergency. That is all. Colonel, please remain behind."  
  
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'Why does he still do this to me?' thought Sam as she sat at the desk in her office, trying but not succeeding in finalising the mission paperwork. 'It shouldn't matter a bit now that I'm seeing Pete regularly. Maybe his pride was hurt at first, but cutting himself off from me like that is just plain childish. Stupid moron.'  
  
Her musings continued like this, gentler at times but with the occasional angry word thrown in. It was just after the phrase 'mule-headed adolescent' had come and gone that she realised with a start that the cause of her disquiet was standing in the doorway, and must have been there for a few moments at least, watching her in silence. She looked up at him, startled.  
  
"Sir? I'm sorry, I didn't..."  
  
"That much is obvious, Carter. At ease." replied Jack in a gentle voice that neither calmed her nerves nor led her to believe that he was trying to build a bridge back. She was not disappointed when he followed it with "Hammond wants to see you in five minutes."  
  
Sam decided that the only way to feed her burning curiosity would be by direct action. "Sir, why are you coming tomorrow? Are you part of the negotiating team?"  
  
"In a manner of speaking, yes I suppose so." said Jack. "But don't worry; they won't be testing my diplomatic skills. You know that mule-headed adolescents fall a little short of you experts in that department."  
  
Shocked by the realisation that her musings hadn't been entirely silent, she nevertheless ignored the barbed comment and persisted. "Is there nothing you can tell us, Sir? I mean, your abilities are an asset to any team, and.."  
  
"That's bullshit, Carter, and you know it." he interjected. "You people don't want me on this picnic and I would rather not be there either. But don't worry, you won't notice me. And if you do, we'll have other things to worry about."  
  
Suddenly irritated again by his apparently hostile attitude, she retorted, "Are we still talking about the mission, Sir? Or had you something else in mind?"  
  
"Four minutes now, Major." was all he said as he turned and strolled away down the corridor. The last thing she heard was his joyful exclamation of "Daniel! Descended any further yet?" and her colleague's laughing reply.  
  
'Damn you, Jack O'Neill!' she silently raged. She noticed with surprise that her hands were shaking, and she wondered yet again how this man could be having such an effect at a time when she thought that her life was heading in a positive direction both in work and at leisure. Eventually, with a sigh she picked up the phone to tell her boyfriend that, once again, she would be back in a few days time, and no, she couldn't say exactly when. His exasperation was only too clear down the line and she swallowed hard when he angrily terminated the call mid-way through her statement that they could probably look forward to a week-end together sometime soon.  
  
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The two SG teams were already lined up when Jack appeared in the Gate Room. Most, except for Sam, smiled at him in greeting and he nodded in reply. It wasn't just his presence that made her react this way - she was puzzled why he was dressed in combat fatigues designed for jungle warfare in place of the regular uniforms that they were wearing, and instead of the holstered side-arms that they all carried, he sported a large rifle cover slung across his right shoulder, tucked in against an obviously very heavy rucksack.  
  
"Sir?" was all she said.  
  
"Classified, Major." was the terse reply, drowned out by Hammond's voice on the loudspeaker giving them the order to embark.  
  
Through the wormhole, they hadn't long to wait on the small island that was home to the only Stargate on Andar. O'Neill called them to a halt before they descended the wide path down to a jetty some two hundred metres distant, where three motor-boats were waiting to transport them to the mainland.  
  
"Major Carter." he called, drawing a small envelope from his front pocket as he spoke. "These sealed orders from General Hammond will confirm what I am about to tell you all." He made sure that he had everyone's attention.  
  
"The trade negotiations will continue for the next two days before the Andans will come to a decision. Under no circumstances are you to question them or speculate about my role in this mission. Do not even mention me. By that time, the success or failure of my task will be known to them, and you can expect their willingness to conclude a deal will depend on that outcome. In the event that they are unwilling to continue, you will disengage immediately and return here to gate back to the SGC without delay. You will not, repeat *not* await my return before leaving if I have not rendezvoused with you here by that time, nor send any search parties. Is that clear?"  
  
A quiet chorus of 'Yes, Sir' went round.  
  
"Very well." said Jack firmly. "I'll be heading off now from the other side of the island. Good luck, Major. Look after them."  
  
"You look after yourself too, Sir." replied Sam, as yesterday's hostility was replaced by a growing concern, the way it used to be when he'd been the focal point of her life. Before Pete. Before he'd gone away. Before she'd realised that she loved him. Just like she loved him now. Damn! And just as always, duty came before personal matters and she rapidly lost sight of him as they headed off in opposite directions.  
  
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	2. Target

Chapter 2 - Target  
  
Jack briefly caught sight of the three boats heading towards the mainland as the small craft he was crouched in sped away on a course parallel to the coastline. It rolled and tossed in the heavy sea swell and he hung on tight to the gunwale. He made sure that his rucksack and rifle were tucked safely under the seat - no point in wearing those if he lost his balance! The burly, taciturn Andan guiding the tiller and controlling the surprisingly small outboard motor had said nothing to him, having merely looked him up and down when Jack arrived.  
  
As time passed and the bow smacked into wave after wave, Jack frequently checked the shore, looking for recognisable features such as headlands or river inlets. Every half hour by his watch he observed the position of the star that was this planet's Sun - smaller to the naked eye and somewhat bluer in tone than the Earth's. He calculated the rate at which it was approaching the horizon, and estimated that dusk would commence in around six hours. He checked his miniature prismatic compass to determine where magnetic north was on this world: it would be of limited use without a map. He smiled at the realisation that the 'Sun' would set in the magnetic East, and he added this planet to his mental list of those he'd visited which had retrograde axial rotation compared to Earth.  
  
He'd given up trying to start a conversation with the native, even though the man had accepted a piece of chocolate that Jack had broken off the bar taken from his rucksack pocket. He'd merely looked at it suspiciously and then taken a tentative bite before deciding that he wasn't being poisoned, and briefly nodded his head in thanks.  
  
As soon as they slowed down and turned towards an inlet on the shore, Jack felt the sub-tropical heat build up in contrast to the fresh breeze out at sea. By the time the Andan beached the craft some way up a river under plentiful tree cover, Jack was beginning to sweat. As he disembarked his gear, the boatman immediately pushed off and was quickly gone back towards the sea. The Colonel knew that he was to be met at this point, but taking the usual precautions, he picked out a vantage point and took up residence there, waiting silently out of sight. As a further precaution he took pencil and paper and made a crude sketch map of the coast on the route they had traversed as he remembered it. He estimated that if no-one turned up, it would take him over two days walk to get back to the point of land opposite Stargate Island, as he was beginning to call their arrival spot, as no road had been visible from the boat.  
  
At long last two men clad in green and brown patterned loose clothes appeared, looking around the clearing. One saw the marks where the boat had pulled up and indicated them to the other.  
  
"He was here." said the younger one. "Has he left the area?"  
  
"No. He is watching us." replied the older man. "O'Neill! You may approach. It is safe."  
  
"Keep your hands where I can see them!" called Jack, covering them with his Beretta. He didn't move, and only watched them out of the corner of his eye, paying more attention to the trail from where they had emerged. After a few seconds his vigilance was rewarded when a distinct movement in the trees occurred. "Tell your friend back there to come out into the open. Do it now!"  
  
"Lev, come to us." called the older man again. The third man soon joined his colleagues, but Jack still didn't move. "O'Neill! We three are all here. There is no-one else. Your leader Hammond said that you were careful and knowing."  
  
Jack waited a few more moments, and satisfied that it was safe enough to take a chance, he approached the group. "Keep your hands in view." he warned, but lowered his pistol. "Well, you know my name, and hello, Lev. Who are you two?"  
  
"I am Unit Leader Klint and this is T'Nevaraka. We will escort you and assist in your attack on the criminal Soray. This is the task agreed with Leader Hammond, is it not?"  
  
"It is." replied Jack. "How far do we need to travel? Are we walking all the way?"  
  
"A little more than a quarter-day from here. There are only narrow ways through the trees and hills, with no room for large transports." Klint explained. "But Hammond said you would bring a weapon of great power to eliminate Soray from a distance many chains beyond the kill-range of our own guns. Is that the instrument?" he asked, indicating Jack's pistol.  
  
"No, it's back there." said Jack. "And the ammunition supply is too heavy for me to carry that distance on my own. I need to divide it between us for speed-walking." 'And because this goddamned climate is already making my knee ache' he mused to himself.  
  
They accompanied him to where his gun and pack lay in the bushes, and made short work of dividing the rounds between them. Then they soon set off in file, Jack taking second position behind Lev, for the many hours of walking that lay ahead.  
  
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The nine others from Earth were meanwhile approaching the Andan city known as Reha in a much more *civilised* form of transport. The electric motor- driven minibus-like vehicle that carried all of them was comfortable and quiet, and both Carter and Hailey were intrigued by the ample power that the small motor provided.  
  
Sam was also mulling over, with no small degree of alarm, the information she had gleaned by listening to the conversation between Lieutenant Grogan and another member of SG-13.  
  
"I wonder what kind of weapon the Colonel is carrying." Grogan had asked. "I wonder why?"  
  
"There's only one rifle that needs a cover that size." replied Master Sergeant Sciortino. "It's an M-82. No wonder that pack he's carrying is heavy. There must be well over one hundred rounds in there. No disrespect to the Colonel, but even I couldn't carry that amount too far."  
  
"A hundred rounds isn't that heavy!" exclaimed Grogan. "What's an M-82 anyway? Not something I'm familiar with."  
  
"An army engineer unit's anti-sniper rifle. Not something that the Air Force comes into contact with much." replied Sam before the Master Sergeant could respond. "And it fires 50-calibre rounds, not the much lighter 762 standard ammunition."  
  
"That's right, Ma'am!" exclaimed Sciortino, as his respect for Sam went up a notch. "Accurate to 1500 metres in the hands of a professional. Someone or something's sure going to know it's been hit, right enough!"  
  
"Change the subject, Sergeant." said Sam quietly. "The driver has ears too." But her mind went into overdrive thinking of the reasons why Jack was setting out on such a destructive path in parallel to their delicate negotiations, and she wasn't happy with any of the scenarios. She made a mental note to discuss it with Teal'c and Daniel as soon as the opportunity presented itself.  
  
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Jack was more than grateful when Klint called a halt at what must have passed for midnight on this part of Andar, when the second moon had set and it was no longer possible to see even the faintest glimmer through the trees. They huddled under a stone outcropping in the hillside and he politely refused their offer of food, choosing a ration bar that he knew stood no chance of upsetting his system before the action against the target began. Klint whispered that the three of them would take turns on guard so that Jack could consolidate his strength for the day ahead. Making sure that no-one could take his equipment or side-arm without wakening or incapacitating him, he dozed lightly until the first glow of daylight appeared through the tree canopy. They set off after taking further food and water, the cool air of dawn soon losing out to the fetid atmosphere of another jungle day.  
  
As he blanked out the pain of his bad knee now nagging more constantly at him, Jack maintained his professional focus on the surroundings and remained as alert as he had ever been in his younger days. But he knew with more certainty than ever that his body was not going to take much more of this level of sustained effort. His insistence on undertaking a harrowing, distasteful and quite possibly terminal mission himself instead of asking a more junior SGC member to volunteer was quite possibly the last call of an old warrior who didn't know when to stop. When he got back - *if* he got back, he reminded himself, it would be time to call it a day. Find a way to steel himself against the mental backlash of living with yet another planned assassination, no matter that it was a government-backed mission and no matter how much benefit it was bringing to the SGC and Earth. Time to close the shutters against more hurt and get on with his inner self as best as he could in retirement, until the will to overcome or to finally give in made itself known.  
  
'No wonder Carter went with a younger man.' he suddenly found himself thinking. And then, 'Crap! Where did that come from? O'Neill, you weak- minded SOB! You've put all this behind you! Don't drag others - least of all *her* - down with you. Get a grip! Concentrate on the target.'  
  
But the rivulets of sweat running down his neck and the effort of putting one foot in front of the other didn't take away his melancholy. Not then, and not later.  
  
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The same fingers of dawn light across the sky found Sam still awake, her world having been turned upside down by the late-night conversation she'd had with Teal'c and Daniel in the ornate gardens of their Andan residence. Snippets of the conversation had been running through her head all night, driving sleep firmly away.  
  
Early on they had worked out that the destruction of something, or more probably *someone* was part of the price that the Andans were asking as a secret part of the trade negotiations. No wonder Jack had been so vocal during the briefing, and Hammond so reluctant to give the go-ahead.  
  
"Why of all people would the Colonel be recalled from his current post to undertake a mission like this, though?" she had asked. "Surely someone in the SGC could..."  
  
"There are few in the SGC who can match his long-range marksmanship and none with his experience of cold-blooded assassination." Teal'c had stated simply. "O'Neill would not ask another to undertake the task." He had gazed at her shocked expression until she could not look back at him any longer.  
  
"So the next day or two of negotiation is a facade, more or less." she eventually replied. "If the Colonel succeeds, we get the technology, and if he fails, we don't."  
  
"That's a pretty fair summary, yes." said Daniel. "We've been saying these past weeks that the Andans are more or less at the same stage of evolutionary development as humanity. I guess that includes duplicity and ruthlessness as well. I'm not denying that the prize in this case is of inestimable value to us, but Jack's the one who'll have the blood on his hands on behalf of us all." He thought about his relationship with his great friend. "If he survives this, he'll be more or less in the same state of mind as the time we first went to Abydos. We've seen him slowly losing his self-respect these last few months and this could well drive the nail into the coffin."  
  
Sam was doubly shocked. Firstly by agreeing with Daniel's statement that Jack's personal burden would indeed be huge. The second was a different kind of surprise. "But we haven't seen him for four months!" Then she paused as the realisation struck home. "You have, haven't you? Daniel?"  
  
Daniel looked down nervously. "Yes, Sam, I have. If you have to know, several times, in fact."  
  
"I too have been in O'Neill's company, Samantha." added Teal'c.  
  
"Is that why you kept telling me that you were too busy to spend any downtime with me? Answer me, damn you!" she blazed at them. "I suppose he's been keeping tabs on how well I'm doing in his old job?"  
  
"On the contrary. O'Neill has never mentioned nor asked about you once." said Teal'c, knowing how upset this would make her but feeling a bigger loyalty to the truth and the man he regarded as much as his own family. "Except at the beginning to inquire whether you were happy with your new partner. We told him that you were and he never returned to the subject."  
  
"And it wasn't just a question of spending downtime with you, Sam." added Daniel. "We'd happily do that any time. It's just that you always asked us to join you *and* your boyfriend. Well, to be honest, I don't get on with him and more than that, I couldn't stand seeing the two of you all over each other on those nights out, knowing what it's done to Jack."  
  
"That's not fair!" she retorted. "As my CO we could never pursue how we felt about each other and he said he understood when I met Pete. I needed someone to look out for me outside work, to belong to. I deserve a life too!"  
  
"O'Neill did indeed understand that." said Teal'c. "And as I said, he never spoke of it. I believe however that he was referring to the lost hope of being with you at some future date when he said to me 'There's no fool like an old fool. And right now, I feel ancient.' We have a similar saying on Chulak, and also the same understanding that sleeping with another is the end of any previous relationship. As to your abilities as leader of SG-1, he never had any doubts that you would excel in the job, and so you have."  
  
And so she had retired for the night, dazed and miserable. And now here she was, rising to face two days of pretence that what they were doing was the significant part of the mission. If ever leadership qualities and the need to lock away personal desires were called for, now as the time. After all, she'd had an excellent teacher.  
  
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	3. Sighting

Chapter 3 - Sighting  
  
"What did this Soray guy do to get on the hit list?" said Jack quietly, as he lay beside Klint under some scrub, observing an encampment some distance away across a wide, muddy river. His telescopic sight revealed a ramshackle collection of metal huts in a clearing, and what might have been a water tank raised up on wooden poles. He noticed wires on other poles running to a central building, and guessed that a generator was situated there.  
  
"He leads a group that does not wish the Andan rulers to prevail." replied his companion. "They kill, steal and damage our possessions."  
  
"So why doesn't your army go after him?"  
  
"He is elusive. He has informants in all levels of our society and knows when to stay in hiding."  
  
"So, a lot of other people also don't like the government, then?" asked Jack, still observing. "He seems to have some support out there." He noticed people occasionally moving between the buildings through his 'scope.  
  
"Enough." admitted Klint. "But not all wish to challenge the rulers by violence. By removing the demon, we may convert the others to peaceful ways of change."  
  
"Very laudable." grunted Jack. He put the 'scope down and looked again at the small picture of Soray given to him by Klint when they arrived. "I think I saw him entering a building just then."  
  
"Good. So you can destroy him now." stated Klint.  
  
"Not yet." said Jack. "It will take maybe another 30 minutes minimum to set up the shot. The distance is just over one thousand metres or about fifty chains as you measure it. I need to gauge the conditions and sight the weapon. We may have to wait for some time after that for a clear shot at him." He glanced at the man. "Now don't look at me like that, Klint. We do this my way or not at all. This gun will give away our general position as soon as it's fired. We get one go at the target and then move as far away as we can. If I were on my own, it wouldn't be necessary but with four of us, we have to leave as quickly and quietly as possible."  
  
The native leader watched in fascination as Jack carefully checked the parts of the rifle, and attached the telescopic sight. His fingers seemingly caressed the different parts - no fumbling, no uncertain actions. Clearly someone who had been through this procedure many times before and was at one with his precision instrument. Jack then turned to the bundles behind him containing the ammunition that they had all carried here and selected ten items, all but four with coloured markings at the tips. Jack glanced up at him and recognising his interest, explained: "the silver- tipped ones can penetrate armour and burn on impact. The blue ones just burn on impact and the plain metal ones just kill."  
  
"Why so many?" asked Klint. "He is only a man, after all."  
  
"We've got to draw him into the open." replied Jack, suppressing the thought that his target was indeed a human being. "The first shots will do just that. Now go over there with the others and don't disturb me until I've finished firing. It could take some hours, and we'll have to start all over again if you interrupt." He loaded all ten rounds into a magazine, checked the gun again and settled into the firing position, moving branches and bundled-up clothing with great care to ensure that he was comfortable, breathing slowly and regularly. He used all his powers of concentration and observation until the layout of the encampment was familiar and he could recognise some of the faces who moved about the place regularly. 'They're targets, not people.' went the mantra over and over again. He lost himself in observing the waving of trees and grasses at different distances, using his skill and experience in building up a picture of wind strength and direction all the way to the objective.  
  
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"Major Carter, I am truly sorry that our elders are taking so long to discuss your latest offer." explained the Andan deputy chief negotiator Thon, his false politician's smile never quite leaving his face. "Perhaps if we were to take food and drink now, it would make the waiting more agreeable for your party."  
  
"I suppose so." sighed Sam. The headache gnawing at her temples pushed her towards ready agreement. "Daniel, please inform all the groups that we'll be taking a one-hour lunch break in ten minutes time." She watched him move off to the different rooms making the welcome announcement to the technology, cultural, industrial and armaments negotiating teams. She took a glass of water and walked into the gardens.  
  
"If I may say," came Thon's voice suddenly from just behind her, "we are not often graced with such an attractive and talented visitor as yourself, Major Carter. Your husband is a fortunate man."  
  
The surprise of him being there coupled with her tiredness tripped her into the standard reply of "Oh, I'm not married." instead of a polite smile.  
  
"But you have someone close to you, yes?" he persisted. "What public role does he perform?"  
  
'He's killing someone for us.' she immediately thought, but instantly corrected herself. "He's in our military too. But if you would excuse me, I do have a headache and I'm hoping that the fresh air will help during our break." She smiled pleasantly at him.  
  
"Of course. I'll leave you in peace." said Thon, withdrawing across the lawn.  
  
As she sat on a bench in the shade of a tree, it dawned upon her that her supposed close one was a police detective, and not the person now filling her thoughts in every moment that was not spent concentrating on the job in hand. The lump in her throat and breaking heart meant that missing lunch would be the best and only option.  
  
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Klint and his companions were overwhelmed with shock by the first detonation of Jack's gun. They had no indigenous projectile weapons of anywhere near the power of this one. The first shot was rapidly followed by four others as they clasped their hands over their ears. Then there was a short pause, and they could see the generator building in the distance shudder under a sudden impact, with bright flashes lighting it up. One of the insulators above it shattered and sparks showered down. They watched people starting to run in all directions, and then Jack fired four more rounds at two or three second intervals.  
  
To Klint's naked eye, one man leaving a building simply fell over and did not get up again. Jack, watching through his 'scope, witnessed the full horror of his victim being practically torn apart by the impact of his second attempt, the limp corpse being thrown back against the wall in a bloody arc. His final two shots ensured that the man would suffer no more.  
  
Moving away as rapidly as possible but keeping low, Jack signalled his companions to retreat back into the forest. Pausing briefly to unbolt the scope and replace the rifle in its cover, they made rapid progress back in the direction they had come, not stopping for even a short break. Hour after hour of relentless marching did nothing for Jack's mental turmoil nor his painful knee, but he was out of choices. Finally, after eleven hours, it grew too dark to continue and they rested in the undergrowth near a small stream. He sipped as much water as he dared from his canteen, but he could barely digest any rations. He set a tight elastic bandage around his right knee in the hope that it wouldn't be completely immobile in the morning. A brief period of self-hatred gave way to dreamless, exhausted sleep.  
  
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	4. Aftermath

Chapter 4 - Aftermath  
  
Two days of pointless elaboration at the trade negotiations had passed, and mindful of Jack's warning on arrival, Sam called a halt to the discussions early the next morning. "It appears that your elders cannot reach agreement on our position." she stated firmly but politely, knowing that Thon's diplomatic background would lead him into an appropriate reply. "I must therefore inform you that we have decided to return to Earth to await your responses and further proposals. We have offered fair trade terms and hope that you will see them as such."  
  
"I note your position." Thon replied, again with that damned half-smile that made her want to smack him in the mouth. "We will of course respond as soon as possible, but we cannot gainsay our leaders' wishes. You understand that, of course. Transport back to the Stargate will be provided for you. Travel safely."  
  
And so they set off back to the coast, as the mid-morning temperature soared to make it another normal Andan day.  
  
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At first light, Jack struggled to stand as a pain like fire shot through his stiff knee. He hobbled around to the consternation of the others until some form of movement in the joint was possible. He took a couple of pain- killing tablets with his morning ration of water, knowing that they would help only a little. Eventually they set off, with Lev carrying his rucksack for him. After two hours journey, during which time his leg freed up a little more, Jack detected the subtle coolness and freshness in the air that signalled the proximity of the coast. They halted, still in the trees, near a different river inlet to the one he'd arrived at.  
  
Jack sat a little to the side of the other three and asked how long they would be waiting. On instinct, he kept his holstered Beretta on his right hip facing away from them as a precaution. The walk here had given him time to reflect on yesterday's events. He had come to some conclusions that were at odds with the facts given to him during the planning meeting held with Hammond back on Earth.  
  
"The boat should be here within a tenth-day." said Klint, which Jack interpreted as any time within the next three hours. "On behalf of the Andan people, we thank you for what you have done."  
  
"If you really want to thank me, you can tell me who I just killed yesterday." he stated, not looking at Klint but starting to disassemble his rifle to clean the barrel.  
  
"It was the criminal Soray, as we said." replied the native.  
  
"Bullshit." was Jack's terse response. "That camp was too elaborate and too near your capital city for a gang of bandits hiding from the army. Now don't lie to me. Who was he?"  
  
Seeing that O'Neill was not intending to threaten them as he continued to clean the gun, Klint considered the question for a moment. "Who he was is of no significance to you."  
  
"If it affects the safety of my colleagues negotiating with your government, then it is a matter on which your life will depend. I can guarantee that." said Jack.  
  
Klint pondered the situation a while longer. "The people in our government with whom you seek to deal are not as they portray themselves. If we had the time and you were fit enough to travel long distances, I would take you to other camps, where not only men but their families too are held because of the supposed 'threat' that they represent. It is enough for their names to appear on lists prepared by the government Safety and Health Bureau for them to disappear - indefinitely. We learned of the demand to your General Hammond to kill Soray and substituted ourselves for the soldiers assigned to escort you. The fact that your government was willing to send you to perform the assassination tells me that Earth rulers are not so very different from ours."  
  
His companions nodded in agreement as he continued. "But the things you offer in trade for these electrical 'baubles' of ours - such as weapons like the one you carry - are of sufficient value to the Andan government that they will not harm your kindred, although they may hold them for a while."  
  
"So," Jack insisted, "who did you get me to murder yesterday?"  
  
"He was a local army commander. His death will send a message to our oppressors, and they will blame you for it, not us. However it is indeed fortunate that you destroyed their power generator first. This will at least delay them in reporting his death to their superiors."  
  
Jack continued cleaning his gun in silence, eventually re-assembling it and testing that it was in full working order. The three Andans talked quietly amongst themselves and paid little heed to him. He looked round when they were silent for a while and saw a small boat approaching rapidly. It slowed as it entered the river mouth and he identified it as the one he had arrived in, with the same man at the tiller.  
  
With barely a glance at the three men left on the beach, he climbed in with his gear and stowed it under the seat, sitting down as they picked up speed again on their way out to sea.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
The vehicle carrying the two SG teams disgorged its passengers and their baggage and pulled away quickly. By force of habit they formed into two lines of four with Sam taking the lead, and walked in step down the narrow road to the jetties where they had previously arrived from the island.  
  
"Halt here!" called Sam as the sight of clear water alongside the wooden piers signalled that there was no way of reaching the island. "Teal'c, Sciortino, guard the road approach and warn us if anyone is coming. The rest of you - spread out along the shore and look for a boat. Anything you think will get us to the island. Do not fire upon anyone who approaches you unless provoked in a life-threatening situation. Report back here in fifteen minutes, no later. Now go!"  
  
"Yes, Ma'am." several voices replied as they departed. She picked up their bags from where they lay in the road and threw them out of sight behind a low wall, and then moved off herself to a vantage point just to the left where she could see the surroundings without being too visible.  
  
'Right, Carter. Options.' she thought. 'We have only side-arms and one spare clip each, so anything more than a skirmish will have a negative outcome. No radios. Swimming? Too far and too rough a sea for nearly everyone. What if no boat is found on the first search? Extend the search. Set up an RV point away from here and send the search parties further afield. Supplies? A few high energy ration bars only. We'll forage for food later if we have to. Fresh water? We'll risk that stream back down the road if necessary.'  
  
Twenty minutes later saw the last of the party returning. Nothing of use had been found within 8 to 10 minutes walk in either direction. She was just about to outline her plan of action to them when Hailey called, "Ma'am! There's a boat over there coming this way from seaward. Just one person on board."  
  
"Thank you, Captain." replied Sam. "Everyone - out of sight behind that wall where I put the bags. Now!" They scrambled over and lay low. Sam crouched behind a bush and saw Teal'c arrive alongside out of the corner of her eye. The boat gradually drew nearer but she still couldn't make out the occupant.  
  
"It is O'Neill." said Teal'c with authority. "I will go down to the jetty to meet him, if you wish."  
  
"OK, but just you." replied Sam. "The rest of you stay here out of sight until we know it's safe."  
  
Teal'c stood on the pier in the fresh breeze as Jack drew up. He threw a rope to the Jaffa, who deftly caught it and tied up the small craft to the nearest bollard.  
  
"A timely arrival, O'Neill!" cried Teal'c, smiling as he accepted the rucksack and rifle handed to him out of the boat.  
  
"Help me out, will you?" asked Jack, moving awkwardly. "Goddamned leg's gone stiff." Teal'c extended his arm and helped him out onto the wooden planks. He picked up the equipment while Jack limped off towards the rest of the party now emerging from behind the wall.  
  
"Good to see you again, Sir." said Sam as they met up. She glanced at his leg. "Sir, are you wounded?"  
  
"No, Major, just in need of R&R, thank you." replied Jack. "OK, people, listen up." He had all their attention. "I'm guessing that we've been left high and dry because the Andans have just found out that things haven't exactly gone to plan as far as my part of the mission was concerned. Suffice it to say that they're probably pissed right now and will soon be here to round us up."  
  
He looked round briefly and pointed to the jetty. "I borrowed that boat a few miles back up the coast. The previous owner is facing kind of a long walk right now. I guess it's our only means of getting to the Stargate. Now as you can see, even without your kit, it's only going to stay afloat out at sea with maximum seven people aboard. That means I need two volunteers to stay behind with me." He held his hands up in front of him as several people stepped forward.  
  
"I know you're all the best of the best that the SGC has to offer." he continued. "And I do appreciate the gesture. However, the reality is that that our credit with the Andans has probably run out and whoever stays behind will be a fugitive or a prisoner. Also, a rescue mission may be months or years away, if at all. They can easily defend the Stargate island, making anything other than a full-scale off-world assault with associated casualties a no-go." He looked round into each of their eyes, pausing fractionally longer on Sam's gaze.  
  
"For that reason, I'm not taking anyone with family commitments or a partner back at home. Been there, done that, and the price is too high. And since you may have to fight your way through to the Gate when you get to the island, Sergeant Sciortino and Teal'c, you will be needed on board. Daniel, I appreciate your offer, but this isn't your kind of show. So, who's left?"  
  
Sam, Hailey and Grogan were left standing at the front. Jack knew what he had to do next and looked Sam in the eyes again. "Appreciate the offer, Major, but you're in the wrong group. Also you've got to lead your troops home."  
  
"But Sir!" she started before he cut her off.  
  
"That's an order, Major." he added quietly. He turned quickly to Hailey and Grogan. "Well done, Captain, Lieutenant. I suggest you get as many ration bars off the others as you can, but leave them their nine-millimetre ammunition clips even if they offer them to you. It could be quite a fire- fight on the island. Now get moving, everyone!"  
  
Teal'c and Daniel shook his hand and wished him well. Sam lingered behind with Jack as the rest of the party boarded the boat, and both Hailey and Grogan knew enough of their rumoured history to give them space.  
  
"Sir, I'll fight tooth and nail back at the SGC to get you lifted off this planet." she said. "You're the one who always insisted that nobody gets left behind."  
  
"Thanks, Major, but we both know that's not going to happen soon. I promise to look out for these two, though." he replied. "Hailey is good, but Grogan is still the walking target we cursed about way back when."  
  
"He only volunteered because they're dating back at home." said Sam.  
  
"Lucky them." he said quietly. "I'll kick his ass though, if he doesn't keep his mind on survival here. It's make-or-break time."  
  
Sam hesitated, being only too aware of the presence of their comrades. "Sir, you know I still care what happens to you.. A lot." she whispered.  
  
He stared back at her, seeing the sincerity in her expression. "That may be, Sam." he said equally softly. "But you made a choice, and one that gives you a future. Don't waste your life on lost causes. Now go before I do something stupid."  
  
He stepped back, and in a stronger voice said, "I'd try to get a couple of swimmers ashore unseen when you get near the island, Major. May give you an edge if there's resistance."  
  
"Yes, Sir." she replied in a breaking voice, saluting him before she walked away.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
They were several hundred metres from shore when someone noticed two motor boats in pursuit. They watched with concern as the distance visibly decreased with each passing minute. Then to their amazement, a bright flash enveloped the motor of one boat, and they could clearly hear the scream of an Andan soldier hit by exploding metal fragments. The pursuing boat came to a rapid halt in the water.  
  
The second boat continued on its approach until it was struck by a brightly glowing object that flew rapidly in a flat trajectory from the shore. Another scream was heard as a man was catapulted overboard. This time, they heard the sound of the shot rolling over the water from the shore and another bright glow hit the boat, taking a large chunk out of the side. It came to a stop as sea water poured in.  
  
"The Colonel's firing tracer rounds at them." said Sciortino. "Poor bastards."  
  
In the silence that followed as they made their escape, the spray breaking over the bow from the choppy sea hid Sam's tears very well as they approached the island. Daniel wasn't fooled though, and from his position beside her, he leaned across and spoke closely in her ear so that no-one else could hear. "Jack's survived worse than this, Sam. He'll look after them."  
  
She didn't look round at him, but merely said, "It should have been me, Daniel, not them. I'll get him back even if I have to organise a coup to do it."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	5. Retreat

Chapter 5 - Retreat  
  
"First thing is to get these bags out of sight and take what you need from them as quickly as you can." said Jack. "Prioritise any emergency medical items and spare clothing, anything useful for survival. Torches, batteries, matches or lighters are good. Personal hygiene items - anything small. Hailey - you take whatever you need from Carter's bag. Grogan - any clothing from Daniel Jackson's: he was nearest in size to you. Take stuff from Teal'c or Sciortino's bags for me. Anything we can't walk away with in the next few minutes we'll burn. Fill this canteen from the stream over there. It's the only one we've got. OK, go!"  
  
They set to, dragging the nine items away and ransacking them feverishly as the minutes ticked away, stuffing the contents into their own bags. Then they piled everything else together, awaiting O'Neill's return from his vantage point where he was checking that their comrades could get away successfully from the shore.  
  
Jack had re-assembled the rifle to cover their retreat, and was rewarded for his foresight as two Andan motor boats appeared from around the headland, obviously in pursuit of the fugitives. He took his time in calculating the distance with the rangefinder, and selected the red-tipped tracer rounds to load into the magazine. By observing the tell-tale glow of the flight of each round, he could make the best corrections for the next shots against the moving targets. As quickly as he dared, he steadied his breathing and took aim at the first boat. At this distance of thirteen hundred metres, he couldn't be too specific about which part for the boat to hit, but he aimed for the motor anyway. He cursed as the first glowing tracer fell short of its target, and aimed a little higher before squeezing off the next round. As soon as he saw the flash of the bullet striking and the boat slow to a stop, he immediately transferred his attention to the other pursuer. Two more shots saw that boat also drop out of the chase.  
  
As soon as he realised that Sam's boat was no longer being pursued, Jack dismantled the scope and replaced the rifle in its cover. He ran - or rather hobbled - quickly as he could to the nearby trees where Hailey and Grogan were waiting. They signalled him to the thicket where they were hiding, and he saw that Hailey was waiting with a box of matches to set light to some crumpled paper under the pile of baggage. 'I knew Daniel's notebook would come in handy one day.' he thought mischievously, and nodded to her. As soon as the fire looked like it was seriously taking hold, he picked up the bag they had packed for him and signalled for them to leave.  
  
"I'll take point." he said, taking his compass from his pocket. "Grogan next, Hailey keep a lookout behind us. We'll stop every two hours for a break but we've got to put as much distance as we possibly can from here. The Andans aren't stupid and they won't give up easily. I hope you got plenty of sleep last night because we'll keep going until the second moon sets around midnight."  
  
"Yes, Sir!" they chorused.  
  
"One last thing for now." said Jack as they set off. "First name terms, no military ranks. I'm Jack, you're Jeff and you're Jenny. Try to think up a cover story before our first stop."  
  
"Yes, Sir." repeated Grogan, at the same time as Hailey replied "OK, Jack." She liked the sound of that already, but joined O'Neill in a grimace at Grogan's nervousness. "Dimwit!" she hissed.  
  
"Sorry, Sir, I mean Jen, Sir." he stumbled.  
  
"D'oh!" muttered Jack.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
After asking a few questions to determine who the best swimmers amongst them were, Sam told Daniel and Sciortino to strip off and be ready to leave the boat as unobtrusively as possible some fifty metres from the shore. They had deviated from the direct course to the island and she fervently hoped that they would not be seen.  
  
"Hey! I'm an action hero." joked Daniel as they slipped over each side into the water.  
  
"Just add it to your archaeologist's resume. Good luck guys." said Sam quietly as they let go of the boat and fell behind as it pulled away. Teal'c steered them round to the main landing point, where fortunately they could detect no obvious extra guards. The five of them disembarked as nonchalantly as possible and started the walk up the hill to the Gate. The usual four Andan guards seemed in no particular anxiety about their presence, and Sam was beginning to think that they would make it out without opposition.  
  
The loud buzzing noise from the Andan version of a radio in the guards' office soon dispelled that hope, and when the guard shouted to his fellows, they suddenly drew their stun weapons. Sam knew that these were miniature versions of the Goa'uld Zat guns, with a more vicious effect on the victims thanks to the increased power provided by the very item of local technology that they wanted so much. The SG personnel ran for cover, drawing their side-arms as they ran. Bolts of blue-green fire were exchanged for nine- millimetre bullets, and a temporary stalemate ensued, with no-one willing to risk exposure.  
  
"Major Carter! I will draw their fire if you can advance towards their positions!" cried Teal'c from a ditch on the other side of the road.  
  
"Negative!" cried Sam, just loud enough for him to hear. "We'll wait one more minute for Daniel and Sciortino to see if they can outflank them. Await my next order!"  
  
At that moment, they saw one of the guards suddenly twist around as he fell, screaming as his weapon spun out of his grasp. Sergeant Sciortino ran into view from behind the Stargate, his pistol aimed at the next guard. Daniel was running to keep up with him, but they saw to their horror that he was immediately enveloped in the bright blue lightning and he fell by the Gate without a sound.  
  
The effect on the SG team was to concentrate their fire even more, most expending their first load of bullets already in the guns and reloading with the only spare clip that each was carrying. Another guard fell in agony before one of the two remaining ones screamed "Stop! We yield!" and he threw down his weapon. The last guard followed suit without hesitation.  
  
"Teal'c! Get Daniel." said Sam, in full command. "The rest of you - see to the wounded guards. Find something to tie them all up with and Sciortino - you disable that radio. I'll dial the Gate."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"We'll hide up in the jungle for a couple of days." said Jack as they took their first break, having checked that there were no visible pursuers. "We won't go too far, because unless you want to live like Tarzan and Jane for a while, we need to double back the other way to gather edible food and a change of clothing so we look less like tourists. I don't know the lie of the land in that direction, so we'll have to tread carefully. I'm betting that there has to be a major port somewhere near the capital city, and it's not in this direction judging from what I've seen of the coastline during the last two days. We need to observe how people live so that we can copy how they behave as near as possible. Now, who are we?"  
  
"I thought of that, *Dad*." said Hailey, a smirk. "I'm your daughter and Jeff's your prospective son-in-law. We're looking for work and shelter, having lost nearly everything. I'm not sure quite how, though."  
  
"That's good." said Jack. "I can answer that one - there are rebels fighting a guerrilla war against the government. They drove us out and torched our house. OK, that'll do for now." He turned to Grogan. "Jeff, I need you to take a turn with the rucksack. It's heavy because we've still got most of the ammunition, and I don't want to lose it just yet. Can you manage that?"  
  
"Yes, Sir." he replied automatically.  
  
"Jack." said O'Neill. "It's Jack, remember? Now start thinking about what our professions or skills are before the next halt. Let's go."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"Major!" shouted General Warner. "You are bordering on insubordination! General Hammond has been called to The Pentagon for a meeting with the Joint Chiefs and the President and is *not* to be disturbed. I will *not* authorise an assault on such a scale through the Stargate when the negotiations with the Andans - on which I have been fully briefed - are at such a delicate stage. We have no evidence that the lives of our people are in immediate danger."  
  
"But Sir!" Sam shouted back at him. "We can land without opposition now. Leave it any longer and they will have reinforcements..."  
  
"That's enough, Major!" he cried. "The decision is made. Now get to the infirmary and report back here in one hour for debrief. That is all!"  
  
Sam glared at him and gave a stiff salute, holding up her arm until he returned the gesture. She did a rapid about-face and walked quickly from his office. She'd often seen Jack in a bad mood in times past, when he had left meetings that had not gone his way. She'd put it down to his short Gaelic temper and had always told herself that she wouldn't behave like that in the same situation. Now she found herself kicking open her office door with a loud crash in *exactly* the same way he had done, and it never for one moment occurred to her that it was not the appropriate response.  
  
As she sat at her desk, she reached for a small notebook in the drawer, and thumbed through it until she reached the number of an old friend from her days in Washington. Time to call in a favour or two, or all of them, damn it, if it got Jack back quickly.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Exhausted though he was, Jack took the first watch when they eventually had to call a halt to the day's march. Carefully shielding a torch beam from the night, he'd found some pain relief cream in the medical supplies that they had plundered and applied it to his knee. The warm feeling it brought gave enough incentive to stay alert, and he stayed wide awake as his new 'son-in-law' and 'daughter' slept side-by-side on the ground, using the part-empty bags as pillows. His thoughts wandered between ensuring that they had covered the essential points for short-term survival, and memories of Sam's promise to him. He wanted to believe that she was being more than the professional soldier, but he couldn't risk the emotional damage of daring to hope for more. 'Not again, not in this lifetime.' he said to himself, and he really thought that he meant it. The fool.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	6. Nadir

Chapter 6 - Nadir  
  
"Diane, you've got to give me more than this." said Sam, looking round nervously from the public phone in the brightly lit shopping mall as the stores began to close for the evening. A note of exasperation had crept into her voice at the lack of any useful information from her old friend in Washington.  
  
"I already told you, Sam." said the voice on the phone. It was *never in doubt* that I'd help you with your research, but *nothing in depth*, OK?"  
  
"What?" replied Sam, puzzled at this strange turn to the conversation. "Diane.."  
  
"You'll never guess who I saw today with your General Hammond! Oh, silly me. That's not what you were calling about, was it?" her friend continued. "Look, you're *not in distress* over this, are you? I'd suggest we get together next weekend if you think it'll help. I'll call you back tomorrow and we can set something up, OK? You know that *Nancy is dying* to see you again, and it'll be like old times! OK, Sam, honey? Gotta go now!"  
  
Now totally puzzled, Sam looked at the phone with a frown before she replaced it on the hook. 'I don't know a Nancy.' she thought. But as she walked back to her car, she began to wonder why her good friend had stressed certain parts of her conversation. 'Never In Doubt? Nothing In Depth? Not In Distress? Nancy Is...' As she pressed the remote lock and the car lights flashed, she suddenly realised that she had indeed received a valuable piece of information, and knew that the Pentagon doors and probably all other official channels were firmly closed to her. If she was going to mount a rescue effort for the three stranded SGC people, it would involve deceit, risk and quite possibly the end of her career. But more importantly, it would take quite some time to accomplish, and that was not something she was going to tolerate. Not now that she recognised that her personal priorities had been slightly re-ordered. The alternative was too awful to contemplate.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Jen Hailey was more in awe of the Colonel over the simple things he did rather than the military heroics she'd known him for previously. His 'drive to survive' was unsurpassed by any of the colleagues that she worked with, and whenever it concerned the safety of his subordinates, he was tireless and resourceful - and a hard taskmaster to boot. Their first day in hiding in the jungle had been spent altering their clothes to make them look more like natives, using the simple repair kit that she'd carried in her personal baggage. When they ran short of thread to re-join the differently- cut garments, he had carefully unpicked the seams and made do with that, not giving up until he thought the new shirts looked good enough to pass casual inspection. He himself wore Teal'c's spare tunic, transforming him instantly into a sloppy peasant.  
  
They had foraged for food for a few days before planning to leave the cover of the forest, but he decided to take their chances in the more open country that hopefully lay in the other direction sooner than intended. Nutritionally, they could live on the meat of the few rat-like creatures and snakes that they caught, but to their alien palates it tasted so foul that hunger was the preferred option, even to Jack. Likewise, edible fruits and roots were absent to their unaccustomed eyes, and coupled with the hours they spent hiding from the Andan patrols that they assumed were searching for them, a drastic change of course was needed.  
  
Journeying as much as possible by night, they found that the tree cover thinned out and arable fields and pastures started to appear. On a couple of farms where they knew that they were unobserved, Jeff demonstrated an unexpected talent in milking the occasional cows and goats that they came across. Jen and Jack couldn't get near without spooking the animals, and left him to it each time. They raided fields for vegetables and fruits, only pulling the occasional root out of the ground at widely-spaced intervals so that the theft was not obvious.  
  
They slept in small thickets and the occasional barn, always with someone on watch. Fortunately the high daily temperatures meant that clothes washed in streams in the early morning and draped across their packs would be dry by mid-day, but gradually they inevitably took on the rough and slightly untidy appearance of itinerant workers. Jack's increasingly obvious limp only added to this scenario, while Hailey felt increasingly familiar at addressing him as 'Dad', to which he began occasionally to react with amusement.  
  
Their biggest stroke of luck was to find work as fruit-pickers on one farm, where migrant labour was obviously the norm. They mingled with the other workers but largely kept themselves to themselves as a close-knit family group, except to ask questions about where people came from and where they hoped to move on to when the work was finished. They were glad of the poor quality but hot stew that was served most evenings, and felt better than they had for some time. At night, Jen and Jeff slept naturally together in the straw in the corner of the communal barn, while Jack lay a little distance away as though guarding them from anyone foolish enough to try to steal from or molest his 'family'. He dozed only lightly most of the time, as the recurring, bloody vision of the man he'd shot at the start of this botched mission, coupled with the subconscious release of the deeper anguish of facing the rest of his life without Sam, repeatedly cut short the deeper sleep his body craved.  
  
Gradually they acquired a superficial knowledge of place names and some slang everyday words. But most importantly, at the end of ten days, they were paid off with real Andan money, the first that they had acquired.  
  
After retrieving Jack's pack containing the disassembled gun and the ammunition from where they had buried it under a nearby hedge, they set off again, this time knowing that the port that served the capital city Reha was only three days walk away across country. Although Andan army patrols were still seen occasionally, to all intents and purposes they were relatively safe if they kept away from major roads.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
After two weeks of working and sleeping on base, Sam finally realised that she had to take a break to be able to think out her rescue strategy more clearly. She had pestered General Warner and then General Hammond as much as she dared, but her friend's coded telephone message had already told her that a certain government agency had no interest in seeing O'Neill's quick return.  
  
Her own duties had been confined to research in her laboratory, with no off- world trips planned for SG-1. Hailey's absence from the science crew meant that there was more than enough work to do anyway. So while she kept up the surface appearance of hard work and frequent vocal protests about the lack of a rescue mission, she quietly asked fellow SG team leaders on missions to try to get messages through to her father, currently located 'out there' with the Tok'ra, that she needed to see him urgently. But just when he would walk through the gate, she had no idea.  
  
She had no sooner sat down at home after listening to all the phone messages, mostly from Pete, and then cleaning up the kitchen to remove the penicillin that had once masqueraded as milk in her fridge, when the door bell interrupted her first attempt at relaxation. She was shocked when she saw her boyfriend through the spy-hole, and opened the door.  
  
"Sam!" he cried, stepping forward to hug her with one arm, at the same time holding a bunch of flowers in the other. "Surprise!"  
  
As she automatically responded to his hug, her skin tingled in shock as she realised that she hadn't planned for this. "Pete! What are you doing..?"  
  
"I called that friend of yours, Daniel. He told me you'd be home tonight at last and so I thought I'd come straight over and welcome you back!" he said joyfully. "God, I've so missed you, Sam. Tell me you missed me." he added, looking straight into her eyes.  
  
She wasn't ready to admit that she'd hardly thought about him at all since her return, nor had she the faintest idea what she was going to say. So she grunted a reply, and invited him into the lounge. She accepted the flowers and took her time placing them in a vase of water in the kitchen. Pete came in as she was drying her hands.  
  
"I knew you'd like a treat, so I booked a table that dance restaurant where we first met." he added, walking over and placing his arm round her. "And afterwards, we can celebrate like we usually do and aim for a late breakfast! What do you say, Sammie? Sound good?"  
  
Random thoughts, none of them constructive or relevant, tumbled through her mind as she searched for a reply. The one that was least welcome was the fleeting image of Jack limping away from her as she'd left to board the boat on Andar - not surprising really, as that same scene had burned its way into her memory at least a thousand times since then.  
  
"But I'm not dressed for that kind of evening." she protested at last. "I'm still in work clothes."  
  
"Nonsense!" he replied. "The table's not booked for another hour, so there's plenty of time to change. But if you're really tired, we can just go to eat."  
  
"No, I'm sorry." she stammered. "Look, I've got to talk to you. Something's happened at work."  
  
Pete dropped his encircling arm and stepped away. "Not that god-damned charade that you call 'deep space radar telemetry' again? Sam, I learned my lesson. I won't pry into what you really do, but it's only a job! It shouldn't get in the way of what we have together!"  
  
"Well, it's important to me!" she retorted. "I don't tell you that you're 'only a detective', do I?"  
  
"But that's what I am! I've told you before that I'd move with you if you got a decent job outside the Air Force anywhere else in the country." he almost shouted.  
  
"And I've told you that I'm not giving it up!" Sam responded equally loudly. "People depend on me, and I'm not going to let them down!" Seeing his shocked expression, she calmed down and uttered the fatal words in a much quieter voice. "I'm sorry, but I can't do this any more, Pete. The situation at work has changed, and.. And so have I."  
  
He stood there, stunned. Sam's face reddened and she found that she couldn't look him in the eye. After a moment's silence, he whispered, "I suppose that someone in particular is depending on you, not just people in general?"  
  
Sam exhaled. "Yes. To tell the truth, Pete, yes. He might die if I'm not there for him, and I'll never forgive myself if he does. I'm so sorry."  
  
"Oh." was all he could say for a while. Then his mood changed visibly. "So you just fell for this guy these last two weeks, then? Felt like you needed a change of scene and took the opportunity?"  
  
"No, it wasn't like that.."  
  
"*It wasn't like that*" he mimicked sarcastically. "Yeah, that's what they all say."  
  
"No, it *wasn't* like that!" she came back at him, mad as hell. "You were the one I fell for, and he was the one who got hurt all those weeks ago!" She stopped suddenly as the realisation of what she'd just said hit home to both of them.  
  
"You two-timing bitch." he said calmly, walking away into the night and not turning round as the front door swung shut behind him.  
  
She'd never felt so alone, sitting on the kitchen floor with tears streaming down her face. Bridges were well and truly burning and she hadn't yet found the road ahead.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	7. Subterfuge

Chapter 7 - Subterfuge  
  
The rain beating against the small window that overlooked nothing more than a drab grey street behind the docks had finally caused her to snap.  
  
"Oh, for crying out loud!" said Jen Hailey, her patience having worn out. "Just remember why we're doing this, *Lieutenant*." Grogan stepped a pace back from her side and looked really upset at her use of his military rank - the first time she had done it since they had begun their monumental game of hide-and-seek with the Andan authorities.  
  
"It has never strayed from my mind,*Ma'am*!" he responded, snapping to attention. "Permission to leave and drown my sorrows while you spend another evening with your favourite SHB security guard, Ma'am! And don't worry, I won't be anywhere near your bar, so you can make out as much as you want with him."  
  
Jen sighed and put down the iron she had been using to smarten up her best work dress. Her shoulders slumped and she sounded dejected. "Jeff, look, I know it's hard for us, but I really don't need this kind of pressure right now. You know why we're doing these things. I've told you before; whatever we mean to each other is on hold until we can see we're getting off this shitty planet! And if you forget that, or you screw up and set us back after we've got this far, then so help me, I'll.." Her voice had slowly risen in volume and she didn't realise that she was nearly shouting.  
  
"I'll do it for you." came O'Neill's quiet voice in the background. They both looked round suddenly, unaware that he had arrived 'home'. The three- roomed hovel in the back streets of the port of Jobe had sheltered them since they had arrived, and they were now regarded by the locals as just another family of travellers working out the year as casual labourers. Each of them could have told anyone who asked that they had been here for one hundred and sixteen days without looking it up.  
  
"Just can it for now, OK kids?" Jack continued, the water dripping off his face onto his wet clothes. "I got a small problem here that needs attention first." He swayed gently in the doorway and for the first time they noticed the red stain spreading around the edges of the hand that he was clasping to his left side.  
  
"Jesus, Jack!" cried Jen, moving across to help him onto one of the wooden chairs by the small table. "What happened?"  
  
"Territorial dispute. You should see the other guy." he gasped as he sat down. "Just clean it up, OK? I don't think his knife penetrated far." Jen and Jeff helped him off with the oversized, rough tunic that he'd 'inherited' from Teal'c, and suddenly he looked a little more like the Colonel they knew and a little less like the rough street beggar whose persona fitted like a glove. His grey beard was a good match for his hair, which had lost all vestiges of its former colour since they had arrived on Andar. Grogan and Hailey knew that they wouldn't get much of the story out of him unless it was relevant to their escape plan and didn't try, just concentrating instead on stripping off his undershirt, then cleaning and dressing his wound. Their investment of hard-earned money in a comprehensive range of medical items was paying off, and not for the first time.  
  
"You gonna carry on with this, Jack?" asked Grogan. "I could get you signed on in the warehouse I'm working in at the moment if you want. They're looking for clerks and tally-men. Easier than walking the streets."  
  
"No, but thanks anyway." Jack replied. "The other beggars won't try that again after today. No, this gets me around town, and the spot under the bridge opposite the local Safety and Health Bureau building is just right to see who's coming and going. Pay's better too!"  
  
They couldn't argue with that. On some days Jack brought home 'takings' from begging that were nearly equivalent to Jeff's weekly pay as a labourer, or Jen's wage as a bar-girl. But she was rapidly catching him up as she had grown more skilled and confident in ways of leading on the men who frequented the place, knowing how to get their interest but keeping them at just enough distance to avoid the attention she definitely didn't want. More than once her hand-to-hand combat training had proven an aid to keeping things running to her agenda and not theirs. As she got better at this job, so Jeff had felt more uncomfortable, and had long since learned not to hang around in the bar when she was working.  
  
The current object of her attention was a security guard who worked at the Safety and Health Bureau. He was quite smitten as well as being quite married, and spent most of his time in the evenings at the bar flirting with her before going to his duties. Using this to her advantage, she had persuaded him that she needed an additional job to make ends meet and had got an introduction to the head cleaner at the Bureau, who took her on. And so, for the last fifty days she had grown increasingly tired after finishing the bar work at midnight and then moving on to the night cleaning shift, only returning home at dawn to flop into bed exhausted. Frequently it coincided with Jeff's time to rise and go to his work in the docks. But the documents she'd seen in the empty offices had given them all an insight into the real nature of Andan society, and the sure knowledge that almost any risk taken to get away was worthwhile. The Andan government reminded them of nothing so much as a version of Orwell's '1984', where simple, unquestioning obedience brought a certain level of satisfaction in the form of a simple, unquestioning life, all regulated by a bureaucracy that made other societies seem like orgiastic butterflies. This in turn meant that corruption was endemic, and life outside the elite ruling corps was cheap.  
  
Every rest-day the three of them updated their cumulative knowledge of the Andans and any means by which they might get through the Stargate. Jack had explained at the outset that the Gate had to be used for interplanetary trade, and so there must be regular sea traffic from a port to the island where the Gate was located. And if there was traffic, then there was a way off. Likewise, if the trade was regulated by the SHB, an insider's knowledge would help them on their way. Simple as that. But one hundred and sixteen days spent to date - with maybe many more to come - had been a severe test of everyone's patience, and both the junior officers knew only too well that Jack's guidance in keeping them focussed had been a life- saver.  
  
But he too was prone to periods of bleak introspection when he lay alone, the cold knife of self-doubt pricking his heart. Only his unwavering determination to see his current 'kids' safe and off-world kept him from showing the world his concern. He cursed himself for his weakness after waking from vivid dreams of people dying either at his hands or those of others, and of loves lost - his son, his ex-wife, his ex-future.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"I don't like it either, Major." said General Hammond, and Sam knew that he meant it. "But this order comes directly from The Pentagon and is unequivocal. Both Doctor Jackson and yourelf are regarded as assets too valuable to be risked in off-world missions until the security risk is deemed to have diminished. And with the effective suspension of SG-1, Teal'c is to be permitted to return to his people as requested. He leaves tomorrow."  
  
Sam knew by now not to argue with the General. She had pushed her CO to the limit during the last three months by her continual protests over the failure to mount a rescue mission, coupled with the different plans she had submitted for large or small-scale attempts. Hammond had sympathised at first, but the unyielding refusal of the Joint Chiefs to authorise any such operation had tied his hands.  
  
She was about to ask permission to leave his office when the surprise came. "However, Major, in view of your noted concern about this matter," said Hammond dryly, "I have arranged for the Andan Ambassador to be escorted via this office in a few minutes time on his way back from Washington. If you were to question him - in a civil manner, of course - then we may be able to accomplish a small step forward. I am under orders not to discuss the matter of Colonel O'Neill with him, but you were not mentioned specifically. Understood, Major?"  
  
"Yes, Sir. Thank you." she replied curtly, as she started to think furiously about how the question could be put. The noise of footsteps outside gave her only seconds.  
  
"Ah, Ambassador." said Hammond as he stood to greet the man. "I trust your meeting was able to make progress?"  
  
"General." replied the man in a rather cold fashion. "Progress is always a feature, although of necessity some steps forward are longer than others." He turned to Sam and smiled. "And who might this charming lady be?"  
  
"I'm Major Carter, Sir." Sam replied, fighting the wave of repulsion that came over her. "I led the negotiating teams on Andar for a short while a few months back. We had to leave quickly when your guards tried to detain us."  
  
The Ambassador's face fell. "Ah. So you were the reckless soldier that left two of our militia wounded at the Stargate and two others who were fired upon in their boats. A regrettable incident. Are you here to apologise?"  
  
"I do regret that those men were hurt when we defended ourselves, Sir." she replied, still standing at attention.  
  
"As I said, a regrettable incident." he replied, the false smile reappearing. "It held back the trade pact for some time. But steps forward have, as I said, been taken."  
  
Sam knew that the moment of her last chance with him had arrived. "When will Colonel O'Neill be returned to us, Sir?"  
  
The Andan looked at her sharply. He paused before responding, "When we have found him, Major Carter. After he has been tried and sentenced for the murder of an army officer - the favourite nephew of one of our elders, in fact. His body will be returned to you after execution."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	8. Fair Trade

Chapter 8 - Fair Trade  
  
"It's the first time that I was left alone in the senior staff offices." Jen Hailey explained over the breakfast that Jack had prepared for her after she returned from her night shift. "I had to pick the lock on the cupboard door, but it was an easy one. The first training sessions are due to start in a few days time. The schedules have been drawn up and the lists look like they've been selected from different army units - probably their best men. They're unbelievably thorough in documenting everything." She paused to devour more of the welcome hot food.  
  
Jack realised how hungry and tired she was and knew to keep quiet and let her continue in her own time. He thought back to how she had changed during the last five months that they'd spent together on the run. At first, keen and eager to please - an aspiring officer on her way up the ranks, much like Carter had been when he first knew her. Now, so much more worldly- wise, self-confident and aware that patience was a virtue as well as enthusiasm, and exuding that quiet determination to succeed in their survival plan. A safe and capable pair of hands whose loyalty and abilities could be relied on without doubt.  
  
He thought too about Jeff Grogan, and how his growing-up progress had somehow not quite matched hers, try though he might. His infatuation with Hailey had never gone away, but was by now well-suppressed as she had taken control of their relationship. He clearly still resented her role in manipulating other men to do her bidding, and Jack wondered whether their relationship would survive their escape. He knew that Grogan would give his life for them if asked, but that was the problem. That might well happen but to no good result. He knew the type - willing, determined and with certain obvious skills, but living at the limit of his capabilities. The man would be unlikely to progress to a Captain's rank in the near future, if ever. His attention returned to Jen as she finished up her plate.  
  
"Thanks, Jack. That was great." she smiled at him. "These lists. The names are grouped under headings such as 'M16', 'M60', Grenades' and so on. So that tells us that they've received supplies of US-origin weapons and there must be personnel here already, or arriving soon to train them."  
  
"Have you found any references to counter-trade going to Earth?" asked Jack.  
  
"No. But there was one item that advised a whole list of people that no 'SuSp Intensifiers' were to be shipped until a 'clean-up' operation was complete." she continued. "There's several ways of interpreting that: one of them could be when they've captured us. Your name continues to be passed around even on recent documents, but for some reason they've stopped mentioning Jeff and me. Alternatively they'll use the weapons against the opposition, but that would take much more time and effort."  
  
"That could be good news if it's us." said Jack, thinking hard. "So, what do you think is the most probable scenario?"  
  
"That the Andans have got Earth to agree to ship the weapons, but are holding out on the return trade until you've been taken." she mused. "We know that the guy you shot had government connections - maybe personal ones - and that they must be smarting to link a personal matter to an important deal. The fact that Jeff and I aren't linked with you any more in the documents could mean that we're no longer part of the deal, and might be handed back if found. But I'm not going to take that risk. We're together until we all get out of here."  
  
Jack couldn't help but smile at her, and she felt a warm glow at the rare sight of him being amused. She really was beginning to think of him as her second father.  
  
"Don't grow up too much like me, kid." he said quietly. "It ain't worth it."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"Sam, are really sure about this?" asked Daniel for the umpteenth time. "Your career.."  
  
"Yes. Now shut up." replied Sam in a firm but still amicable way. "He'll be here soon, and we've been through it all before. It's your career too if they catch on to the fact that you're helping me."  
  
Although she knew that this would be the last occasion that she would be with her great friend for a long time, the flood of emotions passing over her had lessened the impact. The two of them had spent a mere two hours at Jack's cabin in Minnesota, arriving at dusk. The glimpse she'd had of the place that had been - and still was - central to her fantasies of the future had been too brief. She was fascinated by every detail that her hungry eyes took in, the reality of each small item describing his life wiping away the speculation of the last few years, replacing it with a longing that intensified as the moments passed.  
  
Daniel's voice brought her back to the present. "What do you think caused Hammond to change his mind?" he asked, his eyes like hers continuing to search the early evening sky as they stood on the short wooden jetty.  
  
"When he realised that the NID were willing to trade Jack's life as part of the deal." she replied. "His career will be over after tonight as well. But he said it was worth the price. I won't let him down either."  
  
"There!" said Daniel, pointing to the North West. "That meteor trail isn't quite straight. He'll be here in a few."  
  
"Good." Sam replied. "Daniel,"  
  
"Yes, I know." he interrupted. "Go get the SOB. He means a lot to us all." They embraced as Jacob Carter slowed the Tel'tak across the open water, coming to a halt with the nose hovering just above the end of the pier. He rotated the craft slowly until the open door was an easy step for Sam, and she didn't hesitate to throw in her bag and step smartly in behind it. She turned and waved briefly to Daniel before the door slid shut. He watched in silence as the alien ship soon became a fleeting flash across the sky, and was gone.  
  
A Minnesota police patrolman taking a natural break by his car on a remote road asked himself which was the more important: to report what he'd seen, or to carry on supporting his wife and kids in a slow but steady job. 'Normality' won the day, but he would always wonder...  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	9. Breakout

Chapter 9 - Breakout  
  
"Is this what all the fuss is about?" said Jeff Grogan as he withdrew a wrapped bundle from the inside of his coat and placed it on the table. It made a resounding 'clunk' as it made contact with the surface. He stood back, waiting for Jen's curiosity to overcome her and didn't have long to wait as she cautiously unwrapped the brown oily cloth to reveal an odd- shaped grey metal object, while Jack looked on from his chair by the fire.  
  
Her eyebrows rose as she turned it over in her hands, revealing faint letters and numbers embossed in an oddly-shaped recess which meant nothing to her yet. She looked up at him, noticing the hopeful expression that indicated his desire for praise and recognition for a job well done, and decided to play along. "I don't know, Jeff. Enlighten me?"  
  
"It's a Sub-Space Multiplier Version 21." he said proudly and expectantly.  
  
"I thought it would at least be a model 26 with the synchromesh gears." said Jack dryly, bring smiles to their faces. "How did you come by it?"  
  
"A bundle of crates fell from a crane net and burst open. Some of the stuff went into the water but the rest was all over the quayside." explained Grogan. "When that happens, it's every man for himself if there's damaged goods lying around. They write them off as destroyed anyway. I could probably get a few more from the garbage bins tomorrow if you want."  
  
"This is great, Jeff, but were there any smaller than this one?" asked Jen, smiling at him. "Something that'll be easier to conceal and carry when we get out of here? And was there any paperwork with them? I haven't a clue how they work yet."  
  
"I'll look." replied Jeff, pleased with her reaction. "Look, Jen, seeing that it's your night off tonight, I was wondering if maybe we could go out to eat somewhere. My treat." But he already suspected what her answer would be, as she busied herself with a close examination of the object, oblivious to his question.  
  
Jack saw his plight and took pity on the young man. Based on his own experiences with his former 2IC's similar obsession with new technological mysteries, he made a decision. "Tell you what, Jeff." he said. "I'd like you to come with me tonight to meet some people for a drink or three and discuss business. You up for it?"  
  
Recognising reluctantly that it was the best offer he was going to get, Grogan grunted "Yeah, sure. Leave 'The Queen of the Gizmos' to it. Why not?"  
  
"Don't fall up the stairs like last time." muttered Jen as they left a few moments later. She didn't even look up as the door closed, as her whole attention was focussed on the 'interestingness' of her new toy.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"Well I'm sorry about that, Dad, but for just once I'm putting *my* priorities above those of the SGC and the Tok'ra too." said Sam as she paced the deck of the Tel'tak. "Well, not just mine. Jack's got no-one he can rely on to get him out of this. We've got to do something about it."  
  
Her father removed his gaze from the windows, away from the blurry multicoloured canvas that was the universe viewed from hyperspace. It reminded him of the abstract art paintings that he'd never understood or appreciated in his former life on Earth. But the subtle changes in his daughter's explanations were starting to set him down the path of understanding.  
  
"And the other two, Sam?" he asked, looking straight at her. "You've stopped mentioning Hailey and Grogan these last few minutes."  
  
"Well of course those two as well!" Sam responded testily. "'Nobody gets left behind', remember?"  
  
"O'Neill Book of Survival Chapter One." said Jacob with a wry smile. He gazed at her until her eyes reluctantly met his. "When did he become 'Jack', Sam, and not 'Colonel O'Neill'?"  
  
"What do you mean?" she said defensively, her face reddening. "It's just his name. I mean, we've worked closely together these last years..."  
  
"Sam." he interrupted in a gentle voice, "Sam, tell me the truth or I'll turn this craft around and head straight back to Colorado before they discover you've gone AWOL. Don't think that what you're asking me to do doesn't give me the greatest concern about your future as well as O'Neill's."  
  
"Honestly, it's just.." she stammered.  
  
"Anise told me." His cold words brought her confused thoughts to a sudden halt. "I thought you two were well and truly over it when you took up with that policeman recently. I even had hopes that you were thinking about a future that didn't involve getting into these ridiculous life-threatening situations any more."  
  
She slumped into the nearby seat, dejected and spent. He watched her sad expression for a few moments and then sat on the floor in front of her, leaning back against the control console.  
  
"Sam?" he prompted. "I think you need to tell yourself the truth out loud as well as me."  
  
She remained quiet for a while, but slowly her inner resolve won out. "I don't want to live without him." she murmured. "I suppose Anise told you what he said during the Za'tarc testing, about how he'd rather die than lose me." She saw his brief nod. "Well it's the same for me. Only I didn't realise it was still true until he stayed behind on Andar. And I didn't see how much he was hurting as a result of my being with someone else until then. He never let on, of course, and behaved perfectly properly at work. But when he gave us a hard time during a briefing about our motives for wanting to trade with the Andans, I thought he was doing it out of personal animosity towards me. He wasn't, and that's why they're stuck there now."  
  
"Sam." he coaxed gently, the softened expression on his face revealing just how strong their family bond was. "Say it."  
  
She swallowed a couple of times and looked him in the eyes. "I love him, Dad. And I know that no-one else will ever take his place in my life. I've got to try to get him back, no matter what it takes."  
  
Jacob stretched out his arm and her hand met his. "Good enough, Sam. Good enough. Don't forget to tell him when we get there."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
The noisy clatter of two slightly inebriated people climbing the steep wooden stairs to their house alerted Jen to the fact that her 'family' was home. She got up from her seat and walked towards the door holding her forearms out in front of her, her sore and burned hands in the air. She leaned on the handle with her elbow and the door opened before Jack or Jeff had managed to locate the keyhole.  
  
At the sight of her, Jack sobered suddenly and shoved Grogan aside as he stepped in. "Jen?" he asked. "What happened?"  
  
"Pushed back the frontiers of science a little too boldly." she replied. "Electrical burns."  
  
As Jack tended to the damaged skin on her hands and applied the ointment and dressings from their first-aid kit, Jeff made increasingly incoherent attempts to console her. They both knew that he couldn't take alcohol like a seasoned Colonel and she ushered him away, making him happy with the suggested role of warming up the bed for her as soon as Jack had finished. Very soon his snores from the next room indicated that he was already on the job.  
  
"In words of one syllable, what happened?" asked Jack, knowing only too well that she was Carter's protégée.  
  
"I figured out how to open up the device." she explained. "It's got circuitry that could be a micro-model of the Goa'uld trans-dimensional coils.."  
  
"Ah!" said Jack, raising his hand.  
  
"Sorry." she grinned. "I took a look at the innards and saw that it's a variant of other alien technology that we've seen - just differently engineered and developed from the outset, a bit like two inventors in different places wanting to fly, with one ending up designing an aeroplane and the other a helicopter."  
  
"OK, I get that. But what did you do to get injured?" asked Jack.  
  
"I reassembled it and thought that I'd hook it up to a battery that we took from someone's pack when went on the run." she continued. She was finding that she could hold her cup of hot brew ('tea' didn't quite describe the native beverage) with her fingertips well enough: just the palms of her hands were tender and now swathed in dressings. "I stripped some wire from your old electric razor... Hey! You don't use it any more, Jack. Then I taped the it to a single 1.5 volt battery and held it between my palms. I just touched the ends of the wires to the two apparent contact points on the SuSp multiplier. Well, you know that you can't even feel the current on a small battery if you hold it in your fingers. Plus we'd been told that these things multiply the current by only two or three times. Boy! What a surprise." she finished, wiggling her fingers at him. "I guess this must be the industrial model."  
  
"Well, I can see now why Carter thinks that it'll solve the Earth's energy crisis." said Jack, leaning back.  
  
"That's the thing, Jack." she mused. "It's probably a double-edged sword."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It takes energy from sub-space to boost the output all right." she continued, being careful not to lose his understanding. "But if I'm right, it's possible that instead of taking the energy evenly from the universe, it sucks it out of the deepest point of the nearest gravity well." Seeing the puzzled look, she added, "It's taking the energy from the planet's core. Now each device by itself won't do any harm. But with millions of multipliers being used over long periods of time, the effect on the stability of the planet's core will make itself felt as increased quake activity and thermal flows to the surface, affecting climate stability. If you imagine a world full of greedy energy consumers, then ultimately - whether it's fewer or more generations - they will be no better off than they are at the moment. Burning up the entire planet's resources of natural hydrocarbon fuels as fast as possible without regard to the long-term future is no better or worse than this alternative. In other words, you don't get something for nothing."  
  
"So we could be trading for a pig in a poke, then?" Jack mused.  
  
"Oink." she smiled back at him, and they sat in silence until he suddenly stirred and looked hard at her.  
  
"You and Jeff are going home tomorrow night." he said. "That's what we were arranging this evening."  
  
The shock of his words left her speechless, but not for long. He was surprised, though, by her first question, having expected to be asked for details of the method.  
  
"Why did you say 'You and Jeff', Jack? Where are you in this equation?"  
  
"Two reasons." he replied tersely. "First, there's only room for two in one of the crates that's being shipped through the Stargate. Second, the kind of people who run this game aren't to be trusted. I'm their guarantee of getting paid and your guarantee of actually getting there. No arguments, Jen. This is the way it goes down."  
  
She stood up and stepped towards him, indicating that he should get up too. As he got to his feet, she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed, burying her head in his chest. He automatically put his arms around her shoulders and held her in response. They both recognised that the emotion was anything but sexual, and stood together like this for several minutes before pulling apart.  
  
She knew that if and when they were reunited back on Earth, the formality of their military ranks would stand in the way of moments like this. "Thanks, Dad." she whispered. "Just don't stay away too long, OK?"  
  
"Promise, kid."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	10. Home Run

Chapter 10 - Home Run  
  
Jack and Jen spent the rest of the night until the early hours clearing the house of everything that they weren't taking with them, with most of the items obligingly burning up in the hearth. As they worked, extracting and bagging objects to be later dumped discreetly over the dockside, the rooms began to lose the familiar look of the 'home' they had shared these past few months and Jen could almost taste the air of melancholy. The soreness of her bandaged hands only added to the feeling.  
  
Jeff never woke from his ale-induced coma during the whole time that they were busy, snoring regularly until Jen could stand it no more and gently pinched his nose, whispering an endearment into his ear. "Shut up, you drunken pig." Judging by the instant effect, Jack could see who would be the dominant partner in any of her future relationships and grinned. She caught his expression and smiled back at him.  
  
'If I were ten years older, I wouldn't be calling you 'Dad'.' she mused briefly. 'Give Major Carter a run for her money.' then wondering just where that thought had come from. "Just count yourself lucky that you can hold your drink." she said, adding "Sir." for good measure, the sly grin continuing.  
  
"Brat." he grunted back at her. "Wake him up in about half an hour. We'll be leaving to meet our contact in the warehouses before dawn." Seeing that there wasn't much more to do, he sat at the table and placed all the Andan money they had amassed during their entire stay on the planet. He sorted it into coin and notes and then counted out several piles of paper money, each of one hundred crowns value, while Jen looked on, fascinated.  
  
"Jack," she asked after a while, "I've worked the bar long enough to know that that amount would only buy a guy a couple of nights with a high-class whore, even round here. It's not enough to pay for smuggling two people out. What else have you promised them?"  
  
Jack knew her well enough by now to realise that he couldn't pull the wool over her eyes - neither about this, nor anything else come to that, and he didn't hesitate to answer her. "It's the down payment that makes sure the container you two will be in gets to and through the Stargate. I watch it go through and then I return here on the ferry with their man. Let's just say that I owe them a big favour." His face took on a grim expression and he kept silent for a few moments. Seeing that she wasn't going to give up, he added, "Some of the men have family in one of the Andan detention camps. I'll be going on a little trip to help them out, so to speak."  
  
"Risk?" she questioned.  
  
"Not small." he said quietly. Noticing that she was about to start a protest, he added, "No, Jen. I can't back out of this and I won't let you. That's the deal. End of story. I've nothing left to lose if it doesn't go according to plan." He stared hard at the table-top but wasn't really seeing it.  
  
Suddenly she really wished that the gap was twenty years less and not just ten. Really, really wished.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"Sam, we have to face the facts." sighed Jacob Carter. "We can't stay here forever. The Tok'ra need this ship elsewhere. It's four days journey back to Earth, and if we go now, you'll be back in time to coincide with the end of your leave. Apart from which, I'm getting more seasick as time goes by, not less."  
  
The cloaked Tel'tak bobbed around on the ocean's surface just a few hundred metres off the island where the Andan Stargate was sited, away from the regular ferry routes. A close-up observer might have noticed a peculiar flat patch in an otherwise choppy sea, but they had kept a good distance from that eventuality.  
  
Sam sighed. Her father's repeated argument was beginning to wear her down, but her replies were just as vehement. "No! Your agent in their Bureau reported that the army was following leads of sightings in the docks, so they can't be far off making a run for the Gate."  
  
"But if we get a report of any activity from our agent, we can come back within a few days." Jacob protested. "If not me, then another Tok'ra. I can talk them into that much."  
  
"In that case you can leave me in the port." she replied. "I can stake out the ferry for long enough..."  
  
"No." he said firmly. "Look, Sam, we've already overflown and recorded all the places where we thought they might be and although they couldn't see us, they know what sound a ship like this makes at low altitude, even if we are cloaked. They'd make themselves known somehow. And we've gone back to the same locations every day so that they'd know when and where to rendezvous with us. And what have we had? Nothing. The odds are too big."  
  
"But it could takes months more to find them if we go away again!" she came back. "And I won't accept that." She slumped back into the pilot's chair, tired of monitoring the scanners, even though they were tuned to sound an alarm any time that there was movement near the Stargate.  
  
The silence between them reigned like the roar of a waterfall. Suddenly deflated, she offered "Tomorrow. If there's nothing tonight, we'll leave tomorrow."  
  
Her father nodded once and closed his eyes, knowing that not a second's activity would escape her attention.  
  
He didn't know whether he'd actually fallen asleep when the quiet beep that accompanied a flashing light next to the comms / nav panel brought him back to the present. Sam was already there.  
  
"Unusual activity boarding the next ferry due at the island." announced a curt voice over the radio against a faint background of static, and was gone. It may have been yet another false alarm, but the half-prospect of a life worth living wouldn't see her holding back on following it up.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Inside the wooden crate that was being hoisted onto the docks from the ferry, Jeff Grogan was sweating. The air holes didn't provide enough ventilation to take away the effects of his combined hangover and motion sickness, and Jen wasn't giving up her present position with her nose close to one of them. Four hours ago they had sneaked in at the back of a warehouse, hidden behind a large stack of sheeted cargo. The loudness of the nails being driven in to close the lid had been unsettling, and had taken his mind off his predicament for quite awhile. When he started to become aware of his discomfort again, Jen had whispered a few well-chosen epithets into his ear concerning the consequences of his actions, and that had kept him quiet for a further period. It was therefore with great relief that he welcomed the sudden jarring and loud thump as the crate was deposited on solid ground.  
  
Close by the crate, Jack and his escort - a man similarly dressed in a somewhat shabby tunic - lounged against the railings at the water's edge.  
  
"Time for the first transaction." said the man bluntly, staring at the crate. "Hand it over."  
  
"Not until it goes through the Gate." replied Jack in a quiet steady voice. His eyes were casually roaming over their surroundings, and he was unsettled by the sight of a small group of security guards congregated some thirty metres away, on the other side of the roller-track that had been placed up to the Stargate. Even if he managed to draw it out, the Beretta under his tunic wouldn't hold any numbers at bay for long if it came to a fight.  
  
They stood watching as an electric-powered crane arrived and attached a hook to the ropes around 'their' crate and the driver walked back to his cab. Simultaneously, Jack noticed the guards split up and separate, but they were suddenly all walking towards him, their vicious stun weapons to hand. His escort, thinking that his money might somehow escape his grasp, reached into Jack's side pocket and made a grab for the contents. Jack clamped his hand on the man's wrist and they started to struggle.  
  
"Stand still!" cried the lead Andan security man, now only five metres away. "Hold your hands above your heads!" Jack obeyed, but after a few seconds of standing still, the other man made another grab for the bag in Jack's pocket, and was immediately catapulted backwards as a stream of blue- green electric fire from a guard's gun encircled his head. He never uttered a sound as he bounced off the railings and fell in a heap on the stone surface.  
  
Jack froze as the guards encircled him, awaiting their next move. To his surprise, the man to his right screamed and doubled up, just as a succession of loud noises came from the direction of the crate. Another guard cursed and dropped his weapon, grabbing his arm.  
  
To his utter dismay, Jack realised that his 'kids' were firing through the air holes with their nine millimetre pistols, and then there was a loud splintering sound as Grogan suddenly stood up, having forced off the crate lid in one corner. They came into view, firing at the guards and managed to hit several before their ammunition was spent.  
  
Jack reached under his tunic for his own gun, but never even got his hand on the grip when two guards slightly further away fired at the same time, their lightning bolts both hitting him squarely in the chest. The agony of the moment before he passed out caused Jack to give out a guttural scream, his last conscious sensation being that of the railings hitting him in the small of his back. He was totally unaware of his fall and impact with the water.  
  
Jen and Jeff clambered out of the crate, throwing down their empty guns. As the remaining guards turned their weapons towards them, Jen stopped and put up her hands, but to her surprise Jeff ran straight to the railings, looked down briefly and then suddenly jumped over and into the water, narrowly escaping another bolt of fire.  
  
A guard ran to the railings and aimed his weapon downwards, but did not fire. Jen took the risk of stepping over to see what was happening, and observed Jeff holding the Colonel's head out of the water, swimming slowly towards some iron rungs set into the jetty wall.  
  
The guard commander appeared to take charge then, issuing orders for her to be seized and for others to help get the other two out of the water. After a few minutes, Jack's limp body was roughly hauled up on a rope, while Jeff was left to tread water.  
  
"Please!" cried Jen, shaking herself free to kneel down by Jack's prone form. The Guards stood back, pointing their guns at the pair.  
  
Expecting to be dragged away at any second, Jen was astonished to find herself enveloped in white light and with a familiar stomach-churning sensation, deposited onto a hard floor, temporarily out of harm's way.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Jeff Grogan made it to the top of the jetty steps with the aid of some very rough persuasion by the militiamen. They made him lie on the ground while they clamped his wrists together behind his back, and he cursed as booted feet impacted his ribs several times.  
  
But from the water, he'd seen the Goa'uld ring transporters descending quickly from a Tel'tak that no-one had noticed, suddenly to disappear upwards again. The fact that his companions were nowhere to be seen when he got back to the top of the jetty made him smile. But not for long, as he too was soon rendered unconscious by a blast of electric fire.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	11. Free

Chapter 11 - Free  
  
The Tel'tak sped away in a series of twists and turns with Jacob using his piloting skills to avoid any ground fire that might pursue, but there was none. He triggered the cloaking device as soon as he could, and to the Andans watching from the island, the craft winked out of existence at around one hundred chains distance. He steadied its course and Sam took the first opportunity to enter the cargo bay. The door slid open, catching her unprepared for the sight before her.  
  
Jen Hailey was kneeling down, cradling Jack's head as he lay on his back. The beginnings of a red stain discoloured the sodden brown tunic across his chest and his breath came in faint rasps. His leg lay at an awkward angle. "Stay with me, Jack." she was saying, stroking his temple. "Come on, Dad. Don't give up now. I'm with you. Fight for me, come on. Come on! Come on!"  
  
The sudden shock that ran through Sam started in her head and ended up as a tingling sensation on the backs of her hands. She had anticipated that Jack would be in a poor condition from what she'd seen on the viewer when he had been hauled out of the water, which had decided her father to move in immediately to lift them with the ring transporter. It was the obvious *intimacy* of the scene that was unexpected. Hailey hadn't even looked up at her entrance. Jack's grey beard and long hair contrasted so much with his deeply tanned face - still instantly recognisable, but so different from the person who had haunted her dreams these last few months.  
  
Recovering a little, Sam called "Captain! Talk to me about the Colonel's condition?" as she knelt down beside them.  
  
Hailey glanced up briefly but returned her attention to Jack. "He got a double blast from their stun guns in the chest. The impact knocked him back into the railings real hard and he cartwheeled backwards into the water. I think he was out the moment he went over. Jeff dived in and saved him, but they were none too gentle in hauling him up again on the rope."  
  
Jack began to stir and moan, moving his head from side to side slightly. Suddenly he began to retch, and Jen moved quickly to turn him onto his side, assisted by Sam. A spasm ran through him and he coughed up sea water, gasping, spluttering and wheezing until the sensation died away after a couple of minutes.  
  
He doubled up into the foetal position and clutched his hands to his aching chest, but snatched them away at the first contact as a blazing pain coursed through him. Sam took hold of both wrists and gently forced them away from his body. "Hold him still, Hailey. I'll get the med kit." She stood up and left, returning just moments later with the green plastic box.  
  
Jack was moaning again, and that meant it really hurt - they knew he wouldn't do it by choice or habit. As Sam unceremoniously cut open the front of his tunic with scissors, his eyes slowly came into focus and he realised that something significant had happened since he'd been standing on the dockside. "Jen?" he whispered. Sam once again felt the hammer-blow of the apparent closeness between the two of them.  
  
"I'm here, Jack." she replied. "Take it easy now. You're safe."  
  
"Jeff?" he gasped again. "How is he?"  
  
"We've got to go back for him." said Hailey immediately, looking up at Sam. "Haven't we, Ma'am?" she added emphatically.  
  
"Presently." replied Sam. "We couldn't get all of you in one go."  
  
"Carter?" said Jack, blinking and seeing for the first time that she was here. "What're you?......"  
  
"Keep still, Sir." she replied, pulling aside the halves of the tunic to reveal a blood-soaked t-shirt. She continued cutting and then pulled his inner garment away from his skin. The whole front of his upper torso was red raw and extensively blistered, with blood slowly seeping from several abrasions and cuts. Her professional soldier's training took over and she proceeded to clean and dress the affected area. Jack stayed silent, wincing occasionally at her ministrations. Jen helped in applying the dressings and bandages, noticing how Jack kept staring at Carter's face and then looking away again, embarrassed and uncertain where to look instead. She noticed too the way that Sam looked back at him, locking onto his gaze for brief seconds before concentrating again on his injuries.  
  
"Where is Grogan?" said Jack as they helped him up slowly. He grimaced again as he weight came down on his bad knee, and they hobbled him over to a couch.  
  
"He was in the water when you took us." said Jen. "So he's either still on the island or they're moving him back on the ferry or a smaller boat."  
  
"Then we've got to go back now." grunted Jack. "The best chance of taking him is before they get him back to land." He looked up at Sam. "What weapons do we have on board?"  
  
"Only two Zat guns and my personal side-arm." said Sam. "This isn't exactly an official rescue mission, Sir. I was on leave when we left. Dad's in the pilot's seat."  
  
"Oh great!" sighed Jack, struggling to get up again. Jen quickly moved to support him by placing his arm round her shoulders, much to Sam's irrational annoyance. Together they made their way through to the control cabin and he sank onto a seat at the side. Jacob glanced round at him for a couple of seconds, taking in the bedraggled sight of his daughter's desire, but then looked back at the scanner console.  
  
"What sort of air defences do these people have, Jack?" he asked. "Nothing's showed up yet in all the time we've been stooging around looking for you."  
  
"Not much to worry about." replied Jack. "Nearly everything here's electric- powered. The airplanes are pretty but small and slow by our standards. As far as we could gather, the only things you should worry about are some very powerful electric cannon, isn't that right, Jen?"  
  
"Right, Jack." she replied straight away. "I never got to the section in the SHB where they kept files about heavy equipment. Maybe I should have dated one of those militiamen for a while." she added with a grin. Jack smiled briefly back at her, again not unnoticed by Sam, for whom shock and uncertainty was beginning to be replaced by irritation.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Sam's suggestion concerning how they could bring the ferry boat to a halt on its way back to the mainland, simultaneously disabling many of the crew members and guards, was as usual simple and brilliant.  
  
Jacob lined up the Tel'tak some forty kilometres away from their target and applied full power, estimating that at this distance and flying just five metres above the waves, that they would be travelling at just over Mach 6.5 in this atmosphere when they passed over the ferry. Sam switched briefly to a rear-view mode on the scanner and saw that although their craft was cloaked and invisible to anyone near, the stern shock wave was churning up the sea behind them just as though they were a giant ship passing through the water instead of over it. The bow shock wave was impacting the sea directly underneath them and they couldn't see its direct effect. But the Tel'tak was of sufficient size and mass that the combined effect of these two pressure waves hitting one after the other would smash anything delicate aboard the ferry, including much of the ship's glasswork and instrumentation, as well as incapacitating the crew and passengers. That would be unfortunate for Jeff, but the possibility of permanently damaged eardrums had to be traded off against his freedom.  
  
Everyone stared through the forward view screen as the small dot that was the ferry boat grew large extremely quickly, and they all flinched when it seemed for a second that they must surely hit the large grey vessel amidships. But somehow they missed, and Jacob cut the power, lifting the nose to climb into the sky to kill their speed as quickly as possible. He executed a wingover turn and they descended much more slowly back towards their quarry, the Tel'tak still invisible to anyone on board who might be in a fit condition to be watching.  
  
Only Jack suspected the degree of damage that could have occurred on board the ship. He remembered the time he'd flown an F-4 Phantom supersonic at low altitude over a small town during the 1970's, and as a consequence, his subsequent reprimand and punishment had included a tour of the damaged property directly under his flight path. The Department of Defense had paid compensation, of course, but the sight of dozens of people in shock and upset by the loss of so many items that they held dear had affected him deeply. He had been careful never to do that again. But the Tel'tak was so much bigger and heavier than an F-4, and had been travelling nearly seven times faster: the damage quotient would be significantly higher.  
  
Sam stood transfixed by the sight on screen as they hovered over the ship. It was slowing to a halt in the water, with the engines stopped judging by the lack of turbulence in the wake. Shattered glass lay everywhere, and some of the smaller above-deck housings were battered as though they had been hit from the side by a giant hammer. But worst of all was the sight of the crew and Andan security guards laying or sitting on the decks, hardly moving. Nearly all had their hands to their ears, and some were bleeding from the effects of flying glass or the impact of the double shock wave. They may as well have dropped a bomb, she thought.  
  
She was shaken out of her inaction by her father's voice. "Sam, Hailey! Take the zats and ring down to the ship. Look for your friend. You've got about ten minutes before they might get aircraft here, so get moving!" Jacob looked over at Jack, who was clearly not capable of joining in the action. "Jack! Take over here and maintain position. I'll activate the rings."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Some eight hours later, Sam awoke from her short nap on one of the two sleeping couches aboard the Tel'tak. Before she opened her eyes fully, she knew that this was not like a normal awakening from a dream that is quickly forgotten. In her mind she'd been walking with Jack - not the current version whose face resembled no-one so much as a rough-living gypsy, but the clean-shaven military man of the last few years - and they were dancing round the age-old subject of what was right and what wasn't, according to Air Force protocol. She recognised instantly that for the first time in so very long, she could smell the essence of him from where he'd lain on the couch before she had occupied it, when he had been sleeping off the first round of pain-killers they'd given him. Not the sea water stench of when he'd been brought on board, but *him*. The sheer electricity of the moment brought her to full consciousness and she opened her eyes.  
  
Across the dimly-lit cabin, she took in the view of Hailey and Grogan lying asleep together on the other couch, he on his back, with dressings covering his ears held in place by bandages round his head, sandwiching her against the wall. She lay on her side facing him, an arm placed protectively across his chest. If there was an expression to be got from looking at her, the word 'contentment' would have come to mind. As Sam rose, she saw that Jack was sitting on the floor nearby, his back against the wall. It was clear that he had an easy view of both beds, and she wondered if he'd been watching her the same way his gaze was now directed at them.  
  
"Sir..." she began.  
  
"I've kinda got used to being 'Jack'." he said in a quiet voice. "At least until we get back to Earth, OK Carter?"  
  
She swallowed and just managed to avoid the obvious trained response. "Well, I've got a name too, *Jack*. Slightly different from my father's."  
  
He was silent for a moment. "I gather I have you to thank for getting us out." he said, shifting his position to get up but wincing with a sharp intake of breath, causing Sam to get off the couch quickly and move across to assist him. Unusually, he didn't refuse her offer. He stood for a second or two looking over at his two companions still sleeping, and shuffled forward to the control cabin, with Sam still guiding him by the elbow.  
  
Jacob looked round from the pilot's seat at their entrance. "Ah! Beauty and the Beast. About time too, Sam. Symbiote or not, I need to take a long break." He rose and gestured for Sam to take his place. Jack sat down awkwardly on the second chair. "Sam can fill you in on the details from our side." he continued, staring meaningfully at his daughter. "That's *all* the details, Sam." She glared at him in return before turning to check the instruments. He smiled and said to Jack as he left, "And you just make sure you listen, Jack."  
  
Sam remained obstinately silent, making out that the readings on the panel were somehow interesting.  
  
"So?" said Jack after a while. "I'm listening, Carter."  
  
"That makes a change, *Sir*." she replied, still not looking at him.  
  
"Sam, we're really grateful for you getting us out of there. I mean that." he said softly. "The fact that you said it's an unofficial mission means that as usual, it took guts and persistence and loyalty to your teams, all the things I've admired in you. I know I don't say this as much as I should, but thank you. And I'll say the same to Jacob as well, but he's been reluctant to talk to me since we left the planet. Why is that, do you think?"  
  
"Because we have some issues that need to be discussed." she replied carefully.  
  
"But we'll have an extended debrief back at the SGC to describe what's going on." said Jack, puzzled by her statement.  
  
"That's the thing. You can't do straight back to the SGC." she replied. "Not if you value your life. I met the Andan Ambassador briefly a while ago. Your capture and return for a show trial is part of the negotiations between Andar and Earth."  
  
"What about Hailey and Grogan?" he responded. "Are they part of the deal too?"  
  
'Typical.' thought Sam. 'Always the others first.' "I don't think so." Sam said. "At least, not until they started shooting back there at the Stargate." She ventured a statement. "You've grown very close to them, haven't you?"  
  
"I guess so." said Jack. "We've been living as though we were a family on Andar and it worked out really well." He stayed silent, thinking over some of the moments they had been through together. "Jen's more than just your star science pupil, Sam, She's been the key to us getting out of there. Resourceful, gutsy - you name it."  
  
"And Grogan?"  
  
"Not in her class, obviously. But from what I gather he did for me back there, it's a rare man who can seize the moment to act like that, when his own life is at risk. He's back in her good books now, probably for quite a while. Mine too."  
  
"So what went wrong with your escape plan, then?" she asked at length.  
  
"My fault. I should have realised that the Andan SHB would track the people who smuggle others out. All they had to do was stick closely to them and wait near the Stargate." Jack explained. "But the other two might have got out as per the original plan if they hadn't started shooting when I was taken."  
  
Sam looked sharply at him. "What do you mean, 'as per the original plan'? I thought you were all trying to leave together."  
  
"No, it wasn't going to go down like that." he sighed. "I used what cash we had as a down payment to get them through the Gate. By rights I should be back with the traffickers now to pay off the rest of the debt."  
  
"How, precisely?"  
  
He shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't matter now. They're safe, and that's all that matters."  
  
Sam swallowed. "That's not all that matters to me, Jack."  
  
"What? Your trade deal for the doohickeys?" he came back. "Well, that's not all it's cracked up to be, Sam. Jen reckons that the SuSp Multipliers will do just as much damage to a planet as any other form of wasteful energy use." He shrugged. "She's probably right - you coached her, after all."  
  
Sam closed her eyes momentarily in frustration at his obtuseness, but knew that she couldn't resist following this revelation. "Damage the planet how? If they drastically reduce the energy we consume, then what's the problem?"  
  
"You're asking me?" he laughed. "Something about gravity wells and changing the Earth's core. Talk to her about it." He became serious again. "All I know is, the Andans' major interest in the deal is obtaining state-of-the- art US weapons and getting trained in using them. Not to fight off or deter any known threats from other races, but to subdue and possibly kill off a significant part of their own population. I never lived in a state run by the Nazis or the Khmer Rouge or the Politburo, but now I think I know what it must have been like."  
  
Sam thought about what she'd just learned. "This changes things, then. I'll inform the SGC when we get back and get the deal stopped."  
  
"I doubt that very much." He looked back at her and for the first time began to notice the way she looked more weary and concerned than he remembered before... Well, before it all went to hell for him. "They want those Andan Multipliers no matter what. They want them first and foremost to make more powerful weapons and gizmos with the technology. They'll present them as life savers for the planet anyway and no-one will care what long-term damage is being done. It'll be a case of 'out of sight, out of mind', just like it is now with energy consumption. And since when has the Government really cared about who they sell weapons to as long as they get something back?" He paused for breath.  
  
"Sam, do you remember in that briefing when I kept on asking whether the deal was worth it?" She nodded. "Well, the Andans wanted a demonstration of the capabilities of our weapons under real conditions. They wanted us to take out some rebel leader as a demonstration of our *sincerity*. Hammond was acting under the strictest secrecy from Washington when he asked me to find someone to make the hit. I wouldn't let anyone even consider it and did it myself."  
  
"Why?" she asked softly.  
  
"Because my life is going nowhere." he replied almost inaudibly. "I won't let anyone else face the degradation of taking another life in cold blood, not if I can help it. In the heat of battle - well, that's different - sometimes. But I've lived a lifetime of violence and I figured one more wouldn't make that much difference, seeing as the deal was *worth any price*. I was wrong. I don't think I can do it any more."  
  
Sam looked down and her face reddened as her own words came back to her. "You could have a life.. With me."  
  
His eyes focussed sharply on her. "Why? Because you feel sorry for me? Don't. You chose a life with someone else, Sam. Go live it."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	12. Not As Free As You Thought

Chapter 12 - Not as Free as You Thought  
  
Jen Hailey woke up either from the effect of feeling pins and needles in her left arm squashed underneath her, or because she was unknowingly attuned to the sound of Jack's voice drifting through from the control room. She took in the fact that Jeff Grogan, lying next to her and snoring gently, was in a drug-supported dreamland and would stay that way for some time. Looking across to the other couch, there was no mistaking Jacob Carter's matching snores, almost staying in synch with Grogan's. Nevertheless she rose as stealthily as possible and couldn't resist the temptation of crossing to the separating bulkhead wall for a good old- fashioned bit of eavesdropping.  
  
Their past few months' closeness on Andar meant that Hailey had come as near as anyone could in recent years to understanding the hieroglyphics that gave directions to the inner Jack O'Neill. She had seen how much he was driven by the will to succeed in anything that he defined as 'right', whether a given mission objective or an assessment that someone or something deserved and would get his unwavering support. Or indeed the corollary: his unending opposition to 'wrong' people and events. But she had seen too that he rarely expected anything in return. He didn't do personal things in exchange for favours owed. Trade with strangers - well, that was a different matter. A deal was a deal: he bargained hard and made sure in the most subtle of ways that the other party knew the consequences of defaulting.  
  
Jen realised also that not expecting responses was not the same as not wanting them at some deep level. That was the part that this master tactician held back in the depths of his soul, buried out of sight for most of the time. But at rare moments he had a look about him, or a whispered phrase that he thought no-one would catch, that demonstrated an unutterable loneliness and sense of futility concerning his future. She knew the story of his lost son, and had worked out for herself that he would never again give his heart and soul so openly to anyone, for fear of the consequences of losing what you live for. Not unless someone arrived in his life who would cause him to unknowingly cross that threshold of resistance.  
  
Someone, for example, like the woman who was now arguing with him in the control room. She suspected that Major Carter had come very near to it before she had suddenly broken away and started sporting her new boyfriend and lifestyle at the SGC social events a year ago. Jack's expressions and opinions had been unreadable at the time, of course, but she had seen how Teal'c and Daniel reacted. They had become somehow protective of him when others criticised, and had visibly distanced themselves from her and particularly her new lover. Carter had simply not noticed, a natural consequence of infatuation.  
  
Jen listened intently to the flow of words, the highs and lows.  
  
"Because my life is going nowhere. I won't let anyone else face the degradation of taking another life in cold blood, not if I can help it. In the heat of battle - well, that's different - sometimes. But I've lived a lifetime of violence and I figured one more wouldn't make that much difference, seeing as the deal was *worth any price*. I was wrong. I don't think I can do it any more."  
  
"You could have a life.. With me."  
  
"Why? Because you feel sorry for me? Don't. You chose a life with someone else, Sam. Go live it."  
  
"That's not what I want, Jack. I didn't think it was possible to miss anyone as much as..."  
  
"Oh please! Missing someone away on a mission isn't grounds for having a miserable life together as a consequence. You've got someone who makes you happy - or so you kept telling us. Dinners out together, dancing, the whole shebang. 'Made you feel alive.' you said. So go do it, Sam. I won't be the cause of taking that away from you."  
  
"I broke up with him to come after you, damn you!"  
  
"And I said I'm grateful, and I meant it too. But Sam, he's crazy about you. You kept telling us that too. Go to him - he'll understand."  
  
"What the hell is it with you, Jack? Are you expecting me to beg, or something? Break down in tears? Or is it that you've got to act the role of *the strong, silent type* or some other macho bullshit?"  
  
'Bad move, Carter!' thought Jen.  
  
"Well, you're giving out enough of that for both of us!"  
  
'You're not helping either, Jack.' Jen almost said out loud, looking round to check that Jacob Carter in particular was not stirring. There was a short silence before Jack's voice was heard again.  
  
"Look, Sam. I'm sorry. I appreciate that you think you still feel this way..."  
  
"How do you know what I feel? You don't listen."  
  
"Maybe not as well as I should..."  
  
Jen nearly snorted along with Carter.  
  
"But I've had a lot of time to work things out this trip. And now I know how wrong I was as your CO to let you realise that I still had feelings for you, especially after you said that we should keep it in that room. It was inappropriate, and just plain wrong. Did I say wrong?"  
  
"Only as wrong as my having feelings for you too."  
  
"But not enough to stop you finding love with someone else, Sam. You did the right thing, and yes, it hurt like crazy. It still does. But you moved on. Good for you."  
  
"But I want you, don't you understand, Jack? I always did."  
  
"For how long, Sam? Look at me! I mean really look. Jacob doesn't have a healing device with him and, even if he did, it's not going to fix my leg after six months like this!"  
  
"You think that matters to me?"  
  
"It will when I can't dance with you. Not the way..."  
  
"Do you really think I'm that shallow, Jack? Do you?"  
  
"No, of course not. But I know how irritated you get with me, and how happy you were with him. I know that you've got everything to aim at in your life, with a great chance of getting there. I won't hold you back, not in your career, and not in your personal life. I was a fool to even think that I could for a while."  
  
"What?"  
  
"What *what*?"  
  
"So you admit that you do want me."  
  
"That's beside the point. It won't do you any good, and *that* matters to me. God, Sam, do you think that I want it to happen like this? Seven years of idle thoughts and foolish dreams going down the drain?"  
  
"Seven years...?!"  
  
"Yeah... Seven whole years. My problem, not yours."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Hailey suddenly realised that their conversation had ground to a halt, and heard the sound of a footstep. She couldn't be caught right behind the wall like this! Anywhere else in the room and she might just get away with it. She moved swiftly to the door on the far side that led to the cargo bay but froze when she realised that Sam had entered the room and had seen her instantly.  
  
Sam cocked an eyebrow at Jen. "You heard." she said softly.  
  
Jen shrugged her shoulders. Why deny it? "Yup. Pretty much everything."  
  
Sam crossed over to her, checking that the two male occupants of the couches were still asleep. "Captain, not a word of this..."  
  
The look of disgust on Jen's face brought a premature end to Sam's admonition. She grabbed the Major's arm and opened the cargo bay door, walking through quickly and pushing the button to close it behind her. The lights flickered on automatically.  
  
"Permission to speak freely, Ma'am." said Jen, looking up into Sam's eyes. "This is between you and me." Sam nodded, taken aback by Hailey's ability to dominate from below.  
  
Jen waited a moment until she saw that Carter's breathing had steadied after her emotional encounter. She chose her next words carefully.  
  
"You know what I'm saying is the truth. We've run, hid, worked, fed and survived together for six months, give or take. I've fallen asleep in Jack's arms after I was so scared when some weird guys - low-life you can meet anywhere - went for me. He knifed one in the gut and damn near kicked another to death. He's dressed wounds, kept us going, frightened or cajoled us to do things when we were ready to give up, taught us to survive and keep on going. He's made a man of Jeff. Never once called him out when he screwed up the odd job. He made Jeff see for himself. He'd die for us, and we would for him."  
  
She paused a while as Sam waited expectantly, a lump forming in her throat.  
  
"One night when we'd got the house in Jobe - that's the port city - I took a bath. It was the first time I'd used the soap and shampoo I took from your bag. You know, the stuff everyone had to abandon when you left on the boat. God, it was wonderful to be clean again! When I came out of the bathroom, Jack was asleep in the chair by the table. I stood next to him to place a mirror on the tabletop to comb my hair, trying not to wake him. He said 'Carter' quite clearly in his sleep. Moments later he woke up, and I nearly cried at the look on his face when he saw it wasn't you."  
  
The tingling sensation came once more to Sam's hands as she listened. Jen continued.  
  
"We were pretending to be a family to avoid detection and it worked. I never felt awkward about calling him 'Dad' and I never will. I wish I was twenty years older so that I could do what you're not doing."  
  
"What... What do you mean?" whispered Sam.  
  
"Tell him that I love him and show him that I mean it. All I've heard - all he's heard up until now is what you want. But if you do tell him, and he falls, don't you ever let him down again. I'll take it kinda personally.. Ma'am."  
  
Jen turned on her heel, opened the door and strode back into the sleeping quarters, a grin on her face so wide that she nearly laughed out loud. She wasn't nearly careful enough in climbing over Jeff to get back into bed, but his snores continued anyway. "Shut up, you drunken pig." she crooned in his ear, and hugged him as she settled down.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Sam walked slowly back into the control room to find Jack staring out of the front screen at nothing in particular. She placed a hand on his arm and he turned to face her, his dark eyes glinting in the reflected light. Almost as if...  
  
"Jack," she said, "it's your turn to listen."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	13. Commitment

Chapter 13 - Commitment  
  
The sight of Jack's eyes as he turned to face her suddenly derailed the drive and determination that Sam had been building up since the shock of Jen Hailey's proclamation. She floundered, and could only stare back at him.  
  
In that one second, she recognised his expression to be the one of years before when they had been caught on opposite sides of a force field, when the only certain knowledge they had shared in that instant was the simultaneous realisation of utter love and complete loss. She couldn't help but contrast her sharply-etched memory of his face from that time with the picture that now filled her senses - the stress lines radiating from the corners of his eyes, the grey stubble beard and longer, whiter hair that made him look as though he might be coming to terms with the weariness and ardour of life, like an old sailor who no longer fears the sea.  
  
The unthinkable happened. Her sudden awareness that asking him to keep that emotion hidden from the world had been quite probably the biggest mistake she had ever made in her life. They would have found a way, surely, to be true to themselves as well as the military. But what had she done instead? Lost his trust, not in her abilities as a scientist or a fellow officer, but as his kindred spirit in life. The kind of 'life' that means everything from the simplicity of contentment at just knowing the other is alive, to the ultimate sensation of expressing love to one another in so many ways. She had in time taken him for granted as a colleague and run headlong into an affair with someone else right in front of him, knowing that he would still die for her, just as she'd heard him say in 'that room', but would suffer only heartbreak in return, in the silent way that he had mastered in his tortuous life.  
  
Her mouth formed shapes but words still wouldn't come, but the tears did, in volumes down her cheeks and neck. Jack reached up slowly, and gently wiped at them with his thumb. "I know." was all he whispered. She grasped his hand and turned it to kiss his palm, and then held it to her face.  
  
At first her voice was a squeak, but she soon found it again. "I was just going to say 'I love you', Jack. But I don't know how to say it and tell you everything it means to me now." He made to interrupt her but she shook her head slightly and he stayed still. "Even saying that we'd die for each other isn't it, not when the life we're leading puts us at risk like this for much of the time. Please, Jack, I'm so sorry for not having the courage to have done the right thing by you when we were forced to confess our feelings three years ago. And I'm just beginning to understand what you've been going through lately when I lost faith. Dad knew somehow, and got me to tell him, and now I want to say it to you."  
  
"Go on." He said softly, the faintest trace of a smile beginning to appear.  
  
Sam took a deep breath. "For however long it might last, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Not just to make love to you and have you love me back, but to know that we're living for each other, whether we're together or apart. You've always been there for me, no matter what. The difference now is that you can count on me just the same. I let you down, and now I know that my life has very little meaning when you're not in it. I've never felt anything like this before. I love you."  
  
"You got me, Sam." he sighed, knowing that she had just exposed her soul for him to take or break. "I'll just never know why, and I don't know how I'm going to live up to expectations."  
  
The kiss that followed was electric, their lips lingering softly, their fingers intertwining. They broke apart, with just their foreheads touching lightly, and stood for an unknown time. But the fire raging in Jack's chest was no longer due solely to his loss of emotional control, and she could feel the heat he was radiating as the effect of the drugs began to wear off. Looking down, she noticed small red patches again beginning to appear in places through his t-shirt.  
  
"Take your shirt off." she said in a low voice.  
  
"Only if you let me take yours off first." he replied, the full smile of an expectant man now fixed in place.  
  
"And have Dad walk in on us? Later, perhaps." she said, kissing him again. "This is for medicinal purposes."  
  
"So was my suggestion. It'd sure as hell make me feel better."  
  
But his facial expression had nowhere near the dimensions of Jen Hailey's, as she relaxed after the strain of listening to a quiet conversation from her vantage point behind Jeff in the adjoining room. She even took her fingers off his nose so that he could begin snoring again.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"I don't like the odds, Jack." said Jacob, staring at the person he still could not think of as his future son-in-law. "I think it would be better to drop all four of you on a friendly planet until this thing with the Andans blows over. Until recently, I'd have let you take your chances, but since Sam, let's say, *made her position clear*.." He glanced meaningfully at her sitting beside and leaning against Jack on the floor by the bulkhead wall before continuing. "Well, the stakes have changed."  
  
Jacob looked round at Hailey as she sat at the pilot's console, taking a turn at another personal accomplishment, actually flying the Tel'tak, with Grogan standing nearby. "You two are probably not at quite as much risk, but there's still a chance that you could end up back on that planet as well."  
  
"But if we hide away, there won't be anyone to put up any evidence to stop the deal going ahead." said Jack. "Sam couldn't even get support to have us returned from Andar before. Both sides want this to happen so much, but our 'side' consists of an NID group pulling strings in Government and theirs is a tight-assed group of power-hungry elders on a ruling council. On the one side, we're giving them an improved means to subdue and kill off anyone on their world who opposes them or they just don't like. We're getting a magical doohickey that will upgrade electric power, but might just destroy the planet in the process. But we'll take it up anyway, and soon today's technology will be abandoned and we'll be addicted."  
  
"But there's no guarantee that we'll get anyone to listen when we get back." said Sam. "We need to find another way around the uncertainty."  
  
"Or an insurance policy." said Jen Hailey, not looking away from the instruments. "Something that would stop them sending any or all of us back to Andar if we lost the argument."  
  
An air of expectancy built up in the silence that followed. "Jen?" asked Jack eventually.  
  
"Ma'am, there's no evidence back on Earth that you've actually been on this mission, is there?"  
  
"No, there isn't." agreed Sam, puzzled as to where this was leading. "Daniel knows, but he won't say anything. He could just say he left me to spend some time at Jack's cabin, where Dad picked me up."  
  
"You've been to my cabin and I wasn't there?" Jack asked incredulously. Everyone ignored him.  
  
"So if you got off back there within the next twenty or thirty hours, you could return from your leave and no-one would be any the wiser, right?" Jen continued.  
  
"Well, yes, I could make excuses for being a day late. But where would you be?" said Sam.  
  
Jen turned to Jacob. "Could you drop the rest of us on a relatively deserted planet with a Stargate in the next day or two?"  
  
"Yes, I think so." replied Jacob. "But why?"  
  
"I can use that piece of junk they didn't take have time to take off me back where you picked us up." said Jen. "It's good that Jeff jumped into the water to save Jack. I'd never have made it with the weight of that Multiplier inside my coat. I can use it to good effect."  
  
Sam's head snapped round to look at her sharply. "You wouldn't!"  
  
"Yes Ma'am, I would." said Jen determinedly. "I'd give a warning first, of course, but it'd be up to them to heed it."  
  
The puzzled looks of the male contingent on board did nothing to elicit an explanation from the two scientists.  
  
"Dad, can you or Jack take over, please?" said Sam after a moment's silence. "The Captain and I have work to do if this is going to happen. Can you locate a planet like the one she asked for?"  
  
"Yes, I think so." Jacob said, but got no further before his daughter stood up and started moving towards the cargo bay, followed by Hailey. He looked at Jack with a raised eyebrow, the unspoken question obvious to all. All he got in reply was a shrug of the shoulders and a wince.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	14. We Also Serve Who Only Stand and Wait

Chapter 14 - We Also Serve Who Only Stand and Wait  
  
'I know that he knows that I'm hiding something.' was the repeating thought in Sam's mind as she stood to attention in General Hammond's office. "Sir, Yes Sir!" she said in the most formal drill response that the forces used. "I have no excuse for getting the date wrong and being late back on duty, Sir. You have my word that it won't happen again."  
  
"Just see that it doesn't, Major." responded Hammond, staring at her. "You may be someone that the SGC would find very hard to replace, but that doesn't mean I will show favouritism or leniency. It's bad for morale and general discipline and as a senior officer you should know that. I consider it appropriate that this will appear as a reprimand in your record. You are dismissed!"  
  
Sam hesitated before saluting. She knew that she had to play this out properly if her comrades were to maximise their chances of staying free when they arrived on Earth. "Sir, permission to speak, Sir!"  
  
"Well, what is it, Major Carter?" asked Hammond, his patience running a little thin. He had enough on his plate without one of his most trusted officers acting up.  
  
"Has there been any news of Colonel O'Neill, Captain Hailey or Lieutenant Grogan while I was away, Sir?" she stated in a firm voice, still standing to attention.  
  
Hammond eyed her sharply, as though he were looking for a sign that she was doing anything other than asking after comrades that she was concerned about, in the proper military sense of course. He hesitated a while before speaking, but eventually decided that her request was genuine. "We have received a formal protest from the Andans concerning their escape from the planet." he stated, continuing to examine her expression.  
  
Sam hoped like crazy that she was making the appropriate facial expressions at his news. She opened her mouth slightly and stared hard at him, as though waiting for more.  
  
"After a shooting incident at their Stargate involving Hailey and Grogan, during which several of their security force members were injured - two quite severely, we're told - an unknown space vessel used a ring transporter to lift Colonel O'Neill and Hailey off. Grogan was captured and was being taken back to the mainland when the ship he was on was attacked by the spacecraft. From the description it sounded like a Goa'uld Tel'tak. Captain Hailey and another person took Grogan away while those on board were incapacitated by the attack." Again he stared at her. "You wouldn't care to speculate who was on board that Tel'tak, would you, Major?"  
  
Sam knew that lying outright was more likely to be her downfall than merely avoiding the obvious pitfalls. She also began to think that perhaps Hammond was giving her some subtle assistance in the way he phrased his questions. Others would not be so inclined to give her the option. She limited her reply to "No Sir."  
  
The General paused, and so Sam continued, "Do we know where they are now, Sir?"  
  
"I'm afraid not, Major." he replied in a calmer voice. "But the Andan Ambassador has lodged a formal complaint with the President and has demanded the return of all three to stand trial for their hostile actions. Previously they were only demanding the Colonel's return. And frankly, the heat from Washington is most definitely *on*. This trade deal is of great importance to Earth, and I regret to tell you that we may well have to arrest all three of them if and when they return."  
  
"But Sir! No-one's heard their reports yet." Sam exclaimed. "Is the Government going to take the other side's word at face value?"  
  
Hammond's expression became one of slight suspicion again. "I thought you were all for this trade pact, Major. You convinced us originally that the technology we're getting in exchange for standard issue weapons and some other goods is of enormous benefit. Has your position changed on that?"  
  
'Think quickly, Sam!' she said to herself, but again decided to keep her response to the minimum. "No Sir! But I am concerned for my comrades. They must have been on the run for six months on Andar. It's given me time to realise that perhaps we don't know as much as we should about the people we're dealing with."  
  
"That's as may be." he replied, but in a much less confrontational manner. "But as I said, this deal *is* going to go ahead. I will not allow our people to be used as pawns in this situation, but there are some very powerful players on our side that may take it out of my hands. Just pray that it doesn't get to that. Now if that's all, Major, as I said before, you are dismissed."  
  
"Yes Sir! Thank you Sir!" Sam said sharply, saluting this time. The General responded and she about-faced and marched smartly from the room.  
  
Hammond watched her go and thought for a moment. Then he reached for the red telephone and asked to speak to his Commander-in-Chief.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"I'm not surprised that this planet's almost deserted." sighed Jeff Grogan, glad to be back in their makeshift shelter again. "Three days we've been here, and that's two and fifteen-sixteenths days too much. Are you sure we can't get going now, Jen?"  
  
"No!" Hailey responded firmly and with a huge sigh, not for the first time. "Eighty hours was the plan, and that comes around tomorrow. Look, Jeff, I've had my fill of gale-to-hurricane force winds as well, but all you've got to put up with besides that is the 'rotten eggs' smell. That trace of mercaptans in the atmosphere is playing hell with the burns on my hands and you can see the state of Jack's chest wounds. You don't hear him complaining, do you?"  
  
Grogan looked away, somewhat shame-faced. "No, I guess not." he said quietly before looking her in the eye. "But do you know what? I can hardly smell the rotten eggs any more. Just imagine how popular we'll be when we get back to the SGC! It'll take days to wash it out of our skin and hair."  
  
"Where is Jack anyway?" asked Jen, unable to see past the small opening to their moss-covered brushwood shelter tucked away in the tree line. Although they were camped only a few hundred metres from the Stargate, their shelter was well-hidden. Not that it needed to be, as precisely no-one had disturbed them in their vigil.  
  
Jen had made three dry-runs at getting into the innards of the Dial Home Device and connecting her jury-rigged sub-space Multiplier to the appropriate terminals before taking it out again and restoring everything to normal. They couldn't leave it in place for some innocent to come by and trigger its effects onto an unsuspecting planet. No, this had to be all accomplished at the right time, just as she and Major Carter had planned in those last frantic hours aboard Jacob's Tel'tak.  
  
"He found a sheltered spot to do some fishing by that big pond back there." said Jeff. "I don't know why, though. In this atmosphere, the water is like dilute sulphuric acid and he's got no chance of catching anything. Funny, he said it reminded him of home."  
  
"It's going to be strange going back to formal military ranks." Jen mused. "I kind of got used to thinking of him as just 'Jack'. I wonder if he'll be any different towards us?"  
  
"Not in public." Jeff responded. "He'll still bawl me out for being, what was it he said way back? 'A bipedal bull's-eye in a Goa'uld shooting gallery.' Boy, did I feel a klutz!"  
  
"Don't underestimate where you stand with him now." Jen responded. "You've changed just from being with him." She contemplated something in private for a while. "So have I. He hasn't put a foot wrong in all the time we've been in his charge. Except for being slow on the uptake with his Major, of course."  
  
"What? Did I miss something?" asked Jeff, his interest aroused. "When did it happen? I was surprised when she turned up to get us like that, without the SGC knowing. I didn't notice anything going on between them."  
  
"No, they got so good at hiding it that they fooled each other eventually." said Jen. "I think she only realised that throwing herself at that cop last year was a bad move while we were on Andar. And Jack worried me at the start of our time on the run. I'd been on a couple of missions with him in charge after he gave up being head of SG-1 and he was strange. Still the professional soldier, but with no spark of enthusiasm for anything other than the job in hand. Sort of empty. But I could see that as soon as we became his responsibility on Andar, he was like the old Colonel O'Neill again."  
  
"Less of the 'old', Captain." came Jack's familiar voice as he entered the shelter. But he was smiling at her, and she laughed. They squashed up to make space for him to sit down.  
  
"Slight change of plan." he said. "Dial 'em up now, Jen, and throw the warning note through. In six hours, give or take, we're going home."  
  
"Yes, Sir!" she cried eagerly, scrambling to get up. "But why now? We were supposed to wait a while longer."  
  
"Because Major Carter may be a genius," Jack replied, "but she's a real ham actor. I want her to actually look and act surprised when the Gate activates early and hopefully, we come strolling through."  
  
Jen disappeared with the carefully prepared note wrapped around a handy- sized rock and minutes later, they heard the sound of a wormhole forming even over the constant howl of the winds. She reappeared shortly afterwards sporting a big grin.  
  
"What's so funny?" asked Jeff.  
  
"Well, if my calculations of angles and trajectories were correct, hopefully I broke the guardhouse window." she explained, her expression refusing to fade away.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"Unscheduled off-world activation!" came the familiar yet always exhilarating warning, accompanied by the raucous blare of the klaxons. Sam wasn't far from the control room and was one of the first to arrive.  
  
But her mind was in turmoil. 'Who the hell's this? It can't be them, ten hours too early! Unless something's gone wrong! Please, please, not now...'  
  
"No signal, Sir!" cried Sergeant Davies as General Hammond entered the room. He noticed Sam rapidly scanning several monitor screens full of data. "Threat analysis, Major?"  
  
"Well, sir, we're not aware of any heightened threats against us at present. It might be a genuinely peaceful contact." They all suddenly looked up as a loud noise was heard as something or if they were unlucky, *someone* impacted the iris from within the wormhole and finished their existence as a brief energy peak, their demise recorded only by an oscilloscope. "Sir, then we should trace the origin and send through a MALP. It might be our missing officers."  
  
Her pleading expression was enough for Hammond. "Very well. Sergeant, find the origin of the incoming signal and have a MALP prepared."  
  
An hour later, three untidy figures emerged onto the ramp, two walking proudly and the third with a pronounced limp. In an unmilitary show of delight, a voice at the rear shouted "It's them! It's the Colonel!" followed by cheers and whistles. People ran forward to the ramp to meet their missed comrades. However, the enthusiasm of those at the front of the impromptu welcoming committee suddenly abated as they got near the three heroes. Noses were pinched as their faces wrinkled up and they turned away, revolted by the stench.  
  
One figure however forced its way through the crowd and rushing forward came face-to-face with Jack, intent on whispering the words she had been rehearsing for the last two days. But the chemically-driven odour that assaulted her senses the moment she came near brought forth the unrehearsed endearment that he would tease her about for years to come.  
  
"Holy shit, Sir!" cried Sam. "What have you trodden in?"  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	15. Home and Welcome to It

Chapter 15 - Home and Welcome to It  
  
O'Neill and Grogan had to be hounded out of the showers by the complaints and later, threats of other SGC staff. An officer's rank has always meant little when one is naked. Even so, real or imagined, and despite the antiseptic soap and shampoo issued to them, they both thought that they still carried the odour of that sulphurous planet whose name they never did know. Jacob Carter had been singularly vague about that when they had been landed there by ring transporter: Sam of course would have known nothing of the olfactory delights that awaited them on the surface, but Jack suspected that Jacob had in some way staged a bout of 'pre-emptive retaliation' as a warning to him to be good to her. Paranoia comes easily to the empty man who cannot believe that he's on his way to winning the prize of his life.  
  
Their medical examinations seemed never-ending and of course were extremely thorough after their long absence, culminating in a night spent under observation in the infirmary. The doctors had commented though on how fit Jeff Grogan and Jen Hailey were, apart from the burns on her hands that had given her so much trouble in her shower, but she too had luxuriated in the sensation of being clean again and had ignored the pain. Jeff's hearing was degraded as a result of the exposure to severe pressure waves when he was rescued from the ferry, but hopefully not permanently.  
  
Jack was a slightly different story, and he knew what the doctor was thinking without saying it. The chest burns and slow-to-heal knife wound in his side were irritating but treatable, and nothing new in his life. But his knee was wrecked, and even an operation would not return him to combat fitness. The niggling, irrational thought that his uneven gait would reduce his stature in people's eyes, and especially in Sam's, just would not go away, although there were times when it would get pushed to the back of his mind. Especially when an orderly brought three warm meals to the infirmary, their first real reminder of what they'd missed for much of the time they had been away. The last week on Jacob's Tok'ra-prepared survival rations had been a challenge both on board the Tel'tak and the planet. He sat at the small table with erstwhile 'family' and they tried to remember that manners still counted.  
  
'Thank God for the chef.' thought Jack. Despite the fact that it was late afternoon, the man had shown enough initiative to ask around about their favourite dishes and had not stinted in preparing them. Jack would thank the man personally as soon as he got out. Just as he was tempted to lick the last of the gravy from his plate of roast beef with all the trimmings, he glanced up at Hailey and Grogan and saw that they were eyeing theirs in the same way, each with an expression of total satisfaction.  
  
"At least we're not arguing over who washes the dishes any more... Sir." grinned Hailey.  
  
A sudden pang of loss came over them all. Jack stirred uncomfortably in his chair as they contemplated what they had been through together. Noticing that they were alone in the infirmary for the time being, he said quietly, "Don't ever forget this, you two. None of us would have survived without each other. In all my years of ops, I never had a better team with me." He looked both of them in the eyes. "It's been an honour."  
  
"Thank you, Sir." they both murmured, going red in the face.  
  
"You too, Sir." said Grogan. "I know I wasn't..."  
  
"Agh!" said Jack sharply. "I know you were. Still are. Have faith in yourself, Jeff. The rest of us do." Grogan stared down at the table top and didn't move for quite a while. A sly grin formed and wouldn't quite go away until he fell asleep later. As Jack got up to go to his bed, Jen reached across and squeezed his hand in a last gesture of kinship before they returned to their normal lives in the Air Force. He squeezed back and they stared at each other for a long while before moving.  
  
He hoped that Carter would drop by before the evening was out, but the lure of sleep in comfort for the first time in over a week was too much for any of them, and they were not long conscious.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
At 07:30 hours, the briefing room was sealed and a guard placed outside the door. With General Hammond presiding, O'Neill, Hailey, Grogan and Carter sat either side of the highly-polished table, while Major Davies, acting as Liaison Officer with The Pentagon, sat at the far end.  
  
Hammond was brief and to the point right from the start of their first debriefing session. "Colonel, I do not know how far we will get under Air Force jurisdiction before this activity is taken over by Washington and The State Department. As your commanding officer, I will do anything that I can to maintain your debrief as a purely military matter. However, it is only fair to warn you that the request by the Andan Ambassador to have the three of you returned to his homeworld to face trial on charges of unlawful, murderous acts against their State may at some stage be translated into your arrest and interrogation by other government agencies."  
  
"In that case, Sir, I wish to state for the record that Captain Hailey and Lieutenant Grogan acted at all times under my orders." stated Jack in his best formal voice. "In that capacity they fulfilled their appointed tasks according to the highest traditions of the Air Force."  
  
"Duly noted, Colonel." said Hammond. "Now just relax, all of you. I give you my word that we will do our best to look after our own, provided of course that your testimony and any evidence can substantiate that no criminal acts of the type that they have accused you of took place during your mission. I want to use this first session to allow you to tell me informally what took place during your six and a half month absence from the SGC. Just where we go from there depends on what transpires. Understood, Colonel?"  
  
Again Jack responded formally. "Yes, Sir. Understood. But I repeat, any and all responsibility for what took place is mine and mine alone." He glared at Hailey and Grogan to make sure that they would not try to object to this. It had the desired effect: an O'Neill glare had that certain quality about it.  
  
In the three and a half hours that followed, Jack described how his mission to assassinate a rebel leader had gone awry, and how he had found out that he had been used by the rebels. When her turn came, Sam described the abortive negotiations and their flight to the Andan Stargate Island, leaving behind two of their party with the Colonel. She gave an account of how Jack had disabled the pursuing Andan boats and their subsequent fire fight at the island and escape through the gate.  
  
Then Hailey and Grogan joined in with Jack's report of their long, arduous journey hiding in the jungle and then living off the land before they obtained work as itinerant labourers. The others sat engrossed as Hailey described the lives they led in the city of Jobe as Jack the beggar, Jeff the dock labourer and Jen the bar-girl cum cleaner cum spy. Jack and Jen spent some time detailing the role of the Safety and Health Bureau as the Andan government's instrument of control and suppression of the population.  
  
As the morning session drew to a close, Jack outlined his contacts with the smugglers and the deal he had made to get his two junior officers through the Stargate. But his time as an objective witness ran out at the point where he was shot by the Andan guards, and Jen took over the narrative.  
  
"We saw the Colonel being surrounded and the guy with him shot, so we decided to give counter-fire and used our side arms firing through the air holes in the crate." she explained. "Then Lieutenant Grogan managed to break open the lid and we stood up, aiming to disarm the guards. However, there were more than we could see from inside the box and Colonel O'Neill was hit by the blast from two of their guns. The impact knocked him over the side of the dock, so Jeff ran over and dived in to the water to try to save him."  
  
"We could see he was knocked out by the double blast." Grogan chimed in. "So I went straight over the side to rescue him. But before I got out of the water, a Tel'tak appeared from nowhere and ringed up Jen... Sorry, the Captain and the Colonel. The Andans got me out of the water, beat me up and shot me as well. The next thing I knew I woke up on board the Tel'tak with the others."  
  
"Who was piloting the Tel'tak?" asked Hammond.  
  
"A Tok'ra, Sir." Jack cut in. "Apparently they had an agent on Andar keeping an eye on traffic through the Stargate who warned him that we might be coming through. When I came to on board his ship, the Captain and he were discussing how they might return for Lieutenant Grogan."  
  
"Who was the Tok'ra?" asked Hammond.  
  
"Do you know, in all the fuss and action, I never did ask his name." said Jack, truthful to the letter but not the spirit of the investigation. He decided to continue the narrative quickly to avoid further immediate questioning, but he knew that this was the weak point of their cover story. "Anyhow, he returned to the Stargate and saw that a ferry was leaving, with a high probability that Grogan was on board. He buzzed it at low level at over Mach six and the shock waves disabled it completely. Hailey and the Tok'ra got him off the boat." That was his first deliberate mini-untruth, but years of subterfuge meant that he carried it off effortlessly. He hoped that the others would be as convincing when this came up again. He hadn't dared to look at Sam's expression, knowing that she was living the bigger lie.  
  
"And then?" Hammond persisted.  
  
"Well that pretty much is it, Sir." said Jack. "He dropped us on the smelliest planet in the Universe and we made our way back here."  
  
The General thought for a while. Then, seemingly coming to a decision, he called a halt to the meeting. "We'll continue in here in one hour's time. Dismissed."  
  
As the others left for the canteen, Hammond re-entered his office and picked up the red telephone. When he was eventually connected to his Commander-in-Chief, he merely said "Phase Two, Mr. President. Yes, Sir. I understand." But another thought was becoming dominant in his mind, and his second call was to the Head of Base Security.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
In the mess hall, Sam and Major Davies has sat back, slightly amused at the way the other three hadn't just used this break for coffee and Danish like the rest, but had each ordered a full meal and were now savouring the delights just as though this were a high-class restaurant serving *haute cuisine*.  
  
"So they don't do fries on Andar then?" laughed Paul Davies. "Ketchup neither, by the look of it."  
  
"That's right, Sir." said Grogan, but it didn't come out like that through a full mouth. He looked up and found himself receiving a glare from Jen, who likewise had her mouth full but knew better than try to speak.  
  
What none of them had noticed was several members of the base security detachment sitting at adjacent tables, supposedly drinking coffee but in fact keeping a close eye on Jack's group. As they got up to leave to return to the meeting, the security men did likewise, and started to follow at a distance through the corridors to the elevator. Jack observed them from the corner of his eye, but could do nothing with the information.  
  
When they left the elevator again and walked back to the briefing room, another group of guards seemed to be following on this level too. They stood by their chairs waiting for General Hammond to reappear. As soon as he came into the room, Jack took his chance. "Sir, why are we under observation by Security?"  
  
To his surprise, the General motioned for the guards to enter the briefing room, their weapons drawn and pointing at the three recently-returned officers. "What the?........" cried Jack.  
  
"Carter, Davies - move away from the table now!" commanded Hammond, and they automatically complied. He looked at O'Neill, Grogan and Hailey quickly in turn. "I'm sorry, Colonel, but you force me to act on the possibility that the person you described as a Tok'ra may in fact have been a Goa'uld, and that the three of you may now be Za'tarcs!"  
  
"What?" cried the three of them together.  
  
"You heard me." said Hammond. "I have no choice but to have the three of you held in close custody until such time as we can have tests carried out to prove otherwise." He glanced at the security officer. "Captain! Have them escorted to secure quarters! No contacts."  
  
"General!" cried Jack, making a move towards him and then freezing as several guns were trained on him. "This is nuts! We're..."  
  
"Silence, Colonel!" yelled Hammond. "Take them away."  
  
All heads except for the guards turned at the sound of the next voice.  
  
"Sir, that won't be necessary." said Sam calmly. "My father was flying that Tel'tak, and I was.."  
  
"The person who asked him to do it!" Jack interjected, staring hard at her.  
  
She looked calmly back at him. "And I was with him on the rescue, during my period of leave." Jack closed his eyes and his head drooped.  
  
After the shock started to dissipate, the General ordered the guard to stand down and dismissed them. Without being told to, everyone resumed their seats and waited for his next statement. He looked up at Sam.  
  
"You realise, Major Carter, that whatever happens now to these three will include you as well. Just tell me why you did it."  
  
Sam looked down and swallowed. "Because no-one else would, Sir. Whatever orders you've been acting under from the Chiefs of Staff, leaving people behind isn't an option, and certainly wasn't for me in this case. I accept full responsibility for my actions, and I don't regret a single one of them." she added defiantly, staring back at Jack.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	16. Burning Bridges

Chapter 16 – Burning Bridges  
  
Carter and O'Neill remained alone in the briefing room with Hammond after he had dismissed the others. The General held the fingers of both hands to his nose for a while before speaking. He looked up at Sam. "Major, I cannot tell you how disappointed I am in you." he said in measured tones. Sam didn't know how to react in a situation that was new to her, and sat stock still, her hands clasped together in her lap.  
  
"I gave you permission to make contact with the Tok'ra. As I recall, the plan was to request them to carry out a reconnaissance mission on Andar." he continued. "God knows, that was putting our asses on the line with Washington. I told you that I was going out on a limb by doing that much without authorisation, but I was willing to risk the consequences. I thought it was worth it. What possessed you to go the whole hog and carry out a rescue mission without orders?"  
  
"A *successful* rescue mission." added Jack. The General glanced angrily at him, but O'Neill knew to wait for the right moment to provide the support that she would need.  
  
Sam took a deep breath while she pondered how to phrase her statement. "Sir, I have been asking you for news and putting forward proposals for getting our people back for six months without success. And I have to confess that your eventual unofficial go-ahead to contact the Tok'ra was behind events as well."  
  
"In what way?" asked Hammond, genuinely puzzled.  
  
"For nearly three months beforehand, I had been asking other SG teams going on missions to try to get word to my father that I needed to see him urgently." Sam said quietly. She knew that her next words were going to be painful for her superior officer. "Not a one refused, Sir. They've all been pretty much wound up about the way the Colonel and the others were being abandoned. Reliance on diplomacy with the enemy holding most of the cards was never going to get them back."  
  
Hammond sat back in shock. Of course he had been aware of the usual undercurrent of barrack-room opinions about what was good and what was not on every aspect of life in the SGC. But from his isolated position of power, he now recognised in retrospect that the Colonel's absence had robbed him of his best channel of communication to the unspoken opinions of his staff. Had he really been hatching his own schemes from too far inside the bureaucrats' camp? O'Neill was a popular and well-respected leader, and Carter had not been the only person to come up with suggestions and offers to retrieve their comrades. It was just that she had gone about it with an intensity and persistence unmatched by anyone else. But he had never thought that she would be capable of such an act of gross insubordination as this, not even in the cause of someone he suspected meant more to her than a mere close comrade.   
  
"Continue, Major." he said tersely.  
  
  
  
"When I learned that my father was coming to Earth, I knew that I wouldn't get another chance." said Sam. "And if the mission had been unsuccessful, I would have come back and no-one would have known. Either that or I wouldn't have come back at all. Whichever way it went down, you were in a position to deny that you had done anything against orders, Sir."  
  
"Or you could have been captured by the Andans." said Hammond firmly. "And they would have used you to get to the others, and you know it."  
  
"We've been in that situation before, General." Jack interjected. "At the hands of the Goa'uld. It didn't work then."  
  
Hammond eyed him sharply, but directed his attention towards Sam. "We are not at liberty to pick and choose the orders that we must follow, Major. You know that. As much as I wanted to…… Well, never mind. I am obliged to report in full to The Chiefs of Staff. I have made my case to The President that we should not accede to the Andan Ambassador's wishes under any circumstances. Whether that will put a stop to the extradition of Colonel O'Neill and now possibly yourself remains to be seen. The decision is in the hands of Government, not the military. Do you understand that this is the way that these things happen?"  
  
"Yes, Sir." Sam responded. "And for the record, I regret nothing that I have done. I had to make amends for stating that this deal with the Andans was worth any price, especially when others were made to pay for that belief. I am sorry, though, to have undermined your trust and I expect to be punished for it."  
  
Jack looked at her as she made the statement, and found himself overawed by the steely glint of proud defiance in her eyes. However his years of upsetting the Establishment had taught him when to land a counter-punch instead of taking one on the chin.  
  
"He can't punish you for that, Carter." he said softly, looking back at Hammond. "Because then he'd have to reveal that he gave you unauthorised permission to contact the Tok'ra. But I suppose we can expect the NID goons to come marching in later today with their party invitations, Sir?"  
  
To Jack's surprise, Hammond stared and then almost smiled at him, relaxing his tense posture. "Word has it that they won't be here until tomorrow night, Colonel, as my report will *unfortunately* be delayed for twenty four hours. Now please allow the Major to escort you off-site." He glanced at his watch. "I'm sure you need a little time to make sure you still have a house to go back to and attend to any other urgent matters. Getting your stories straight would also be good. Report back here to me by 15:00 hours tomorrow, both of you. Not before. Dismissed!"  
  
Once back in his office, Hammond again lifted the red telephone. This was getting to be a habit.   
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
As Sam's head rested on his shoulder, with his arm protectively around her, Jack knew that it would be a rare moment in his life that would better this one. How they could have said no more than around a dozen words each since leaving the base in her car, entering his unexpectedly clean and tidy house ("You did this?" "Last night."), staring at each other in his living room before coming together for their first passionate kiss ("I want you, Jack." "You sure?"), fumbling and pulling at each other's clothes ("Oh, Jack!" "Ouch! Careful!"), feeling the touch of silky skin warmed by seven years of lust and hope ("God, Sam!" "Now, Jack, now!"), reaching the tumult of passion at the same moment ("Love you." "Love you too.") – was still a mystery to him, and would always be.  
  
He knew that she was feeling as euphoric as he was – probably by the way she sighed as she trailed her fingertips across his stomach below the bandages he still had to wear. His fingers moved gently up and down her spine and she reacted to the sensation by a slight arching of her back. Driven by the emotions he'd never expected to know again, he felt the need to be reckless, urgent. His voice was a deep murmur.  
  
"Sam, if we get through tomorrow, do you believe in long engagements?"  
  
She raised her head and looked round at him, taking in the eyes of the man she'd wanted to own for so long. "Not any more."  
  
The clock on the bedroom mantelshelf ticked on to ten minutes past three in the afternoon, and they both wondered whether they'd find the time to eat later on. But in the meantime, there was still six years and eleven months of waiting to catch up on.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	17. Your Wormhole Awaits, Sir

Chapter 17 – Your Wormhole Awaits, Sir  
  
"Quite a party, General." Jack mused as he and Sam entered the briefing room at precisely 15:00 hours the following day. They both stood briefly to attention and saluted Hammond, who returned the gesture. "Let's see, two Goons, brainless variety," he nodded at the pair of black-suited heavies standing staring at him on the opposite side of the table, "one *uns'nvak*, if I'm not mistaken," he continued, smiling at the Andan Ambassador's startled reaction to the worst word in the man's own dialect, "and one cheap, unprincipled politician. How are you, Senator Kinsey?"  
  
"That's right, O'Neill." said the Senator, whose politically-bred thick skin hadn't quite protected him from Jack's verbal assault. "Get the digs in while you're still able to. Where you *and* the Major here are going, there won't be much time for it." Kinsey had been expecting a sharper reaction from O'Neill and Carter, and was somewhat disappointed when all he got were expressions of disdain, as though they both suspected that they had stepped in something unpleasant.  
  
"Cut it out, Jack!" said Hammond, and turning to Kinsey he continued, "And you, Senator, should remember that your Office is supposed to be marked by dignity and statesmanship! Kindly try to live up to that tradition."  
  
"Don't lecture me, General!" Kinsey retorted. "For a man whose days in this office are numbered, you are in no position to censure me!"  
  
"I am nevertheless still the Commanding Officer of this Base, Senator." the General came straight back at him. "And I will see to it that this obnoxious business is carried out in a proper manner."  
  
"I do not regard this as *obnoxious*, General." said the Ambassador. "These people are criminals who have done a great deal of damage on Andar, and will be brought to justice under our rules."  
  
"So, 'Guilty Until Proven Innocent' applies then, does it?" asked Jack. "Or are we talking 'foregone conclusion' here? Don't forget I've seen how you people dispense *justice* at close quarters. Your detention camps are full of people sent there by your Safety and Health Bureau."  
  
"And do you not have detention camps here used on the very same basis, Colonel?" said the Ambassador. "And I observe that your NID and other Government agencies are run on very similar lines to our SHB. To use a local expression, by your statements you are *digging your own grave*."  
  
"Well, it's good practice for the real thing when we get to your planet." replied Jack, looking to see how Kinsey reacted to that. Predictably, he saw no change in the Senator's smug face.  
  
"Senator," said Hammond menacingly, "I suggest that you just read the extradition order concerning my officers now. If you have any dignity left, that is."  
  
Kinsey looked long and hard at Jack and Sam. He had expected O'Neill to react in this manner, but he was a little surprised at the calm way the Major was standing there with nothing more than contempt written across her face. But he still had two major cards to play, with which he would show these *underlings* just who was master at power games. He reached into his brief case and pulled out two documents. As he looked up again, something bright caught his eye.  
  
"Major, is that a ring you're wearing?" he said in mild astonishment. He immediately saw an opportunity to apply more leverage in the next step of his plan. He didn't care whether Carter went to Andar or got off scot-free: both he and the Ambassador – a man after his own heart – just wanted to make sure of O'Neill.  
  
"Yes, Senator." replied Sam curtly, intent on not giving the man any grounds for exploitation. Hammond looked sharply at her, while Jack continued to regard Kinsey as some form of excrement.  
  
"Well, I'm sure that Colonel O'Neill will want to give consideration to your situation and that of your fiancé." he said, separating the top sheet of paper in his hand. "Colonel, this is a printed statement of your actions over the last six months based on your own report and those of Grogan and Hailey." He reached across the table and placed it on the far side of the surface. "If you will sign this admission of your actions, Colonel, I can try to persuade the Ambassador here to drop the extradition request concerning Major Carter."  
  
"That won't be necessary, Senator." said Sam before anyone else could intervene – especially Jack. "Colonel O'Neill *is* my fiancé. We go together, or not at all." Glancing down at the paper on the table, she continued, "And may I suggest that you roll up that document tightly and stick it....."  
  
"Major!" cried Hammond, smiling briefly in spite of the seriousness of the situation. Jack raised an eyebrow as he looked round at her from the corner of his eye. The faintest flash of a smirk vanished almost instantly from the face of Brainless Goon number one, but his colleague was unmoved.  
  
"Very well." said Kinsey, looking up at the security camera briefly. "Let the record show that I offered humanitarian assistance but the help was thrown back in my face." He raised the other piece of paper and started to read the full text, carefully and slowly. As he reached the critical paragraph, he paused and stared at the two officers. "Accordingly, having accepted the evidence before us, The Government of The United States of America, acting on behalf of the citizens of Earth, hereby agrees to the extradition of Colonel Jonathan O'Neill, USAF, and Major Samantha Carter, USAF into the custody of the representative of the Government of the planet Andar, to face charges of reckless behaviour resulting in injury to several persons on that world, and of wounding with intent to kill. Passage to Andar is to be enacted immediately upon the serving of this extradition warrant."  
  
Kinsey passed the paper to Hammond, who dropped it on the table without looking at it. The General glanced at his red telephone, the action not going unnoticed by the Senator.  
  
"If you're expecting President Schwarzenegger to put in a call to get their asses out of the sling, General, then you're wasting your time." he said with a sly smile. The surprise on the Commanding Officer's face could not be mistaken. Kinsey continued, "We know all about your telephone calls and your scheme to get him to intervene. That's why we told him that we would be doing this in an hour's time. By the time he calls, they'll be light years away. Literally."  
  
Hammond looked stricken, and then angry. He turned to his two officers and said, "I'm sorry, Colonel, Major. I've let you down. I never thought that subversion of the President himself would be possible."  
  
"Don't worry about it, Sir." said Jack. "I believe the climate on Andar is quite acceptable at this time of year."  
  
"Escort them to the Gate." Kinsey instructed BG1 and BG2, his satisfaction at what he had engineered only too evident in his expression.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"Manhandle me again like that, and I'll bust your balls!" hissed Sam as she snatched her elbow out of the NID man's grasp. He hopped away from her, his instep screaming at him where she had dug in her boot heel. The second NID man took one look at Jack's expression and stood off, ushering him through the door. Without waiting, they both set off towards the Gate Room, followed by the entourage. The look of triumph on Kinsey's face was unmistakeable as he followed the four, with Hammond and the Andan trailing behind him.  
  
At first, the knocking noise that accompanied them on their way seemed like a piece of machinery such as a pump acting up. But as they approached the Gate Room, it became unmistakeably louder and was apparently coming from everywhere. A passing SF collided with one of the NID men, knocking him sideways, and moved on without stopping or apologising. As the Senator passed a doorway, an anonymous voice from within clearly issued the word "Traitor!", and he looked round, startled.  
  
Then as they approached the steel doors to the Gate Room, a party of troops armed with M16 rifles blocked their way. O'Neill and Carter came to a halt, happy to wait and see what was going to happen next. Major Griff stared ahead at the group behind his comrades, his face set like stone.  
  
"Prohibited area." said Griff. "Off-limits to non-authorised personnel."  
  
Kinsey looked as though he were about to have apoplexy. "Hammond!" he screamed. "Get your men out of the way! I'll have every man court- martialled who prevents us going about our legitimate duties!"  
  
"The Major's statement was correct, Senator." said Hammond calmly. "You need to show him your authorisation to enter the Gate Room."  
  
"Why, you!" blustered the senator. "I'll have you busted as well!" In the background, the hammering sound being made by every SGC member of staff knocking something solid on the doors and walls, or just kicking against metal cabinets, had reached a peak, and it was difficult to be heard without shouting.  
  
Jack and Sam smiled to each other, but then he raised his hands in the air and whistled loudly, shouting, "Whoa, kids! Cool it!" Like the sea retreating before Moses, the sound died down within seconds and there was relative silence. He looked round at Griff and said, "Nice try, Major, and thanks for the effort. But we'll take it from here, OK?"  
  
"Sir, yes, Sir!" shouted Griff. "Squad! With me!" and he marched off briskly. As he passed Kinsey, he distinctly heard the senator mumbling something about Leavenworth military prison. He stopped instantly and glowered down at the politician, their eyes only six inches apart. After a moment's pause during which he could see the beads of sweat running down the frightened man's nose, he said very loudly, "Sir, were you addressing me just then?" His M16 was only an inch from his opponent's chest.  
  
"Er, no." said Kinsey, backing away nervously. "No, I wasn't." Surprisingly, the Andan Ambassador smiled at his ally's obvious discomfort.  
  
"Very well, Sir!" shouted Griff. "Squad! Resume!" and he trotted off leading his men away.  
  
"Major, does your security clearance still extend to getting us into this room?" said Jack to Sam in the silence that followed.  
  
"I believe it might, Sir." answered Sam coolly, swiping her card through the slot on the wall and punching in a code. The doors obligingly rolled back with the usual loud grating noise. "I must ask Sergeant Siler to oil the mechanism soon." she added. "Can't let standards slip, can we?" Hammond was at a loss for words.  
  
Kinsey and the NID men had the good sense to stand away as the rest of the party assembled at the foot of the ramp. Hammond faced Sam and Jack, a solemn expression on his face. "Jack, Sam," he started, "I cannot tell you how sorry I am."  
  
"That's all right, Sir." replied Jack, with Sam nodding in agreement. "There are clearly major forces at work here, and if they can hoodwink The President, we stood little chance. It's not your fault."  
  
"Very touching." said the Ambassador. "But we're wasting time here, General. Please issue the order to open the Gate."  
  
Hammond looked up at the Control Room window, and saw that Sergeant Davis knew what to expect. He gave a thumbs up to the General, and opened the iris preparatory to starting the dialling sequence. The giant circle started moving and the first chevron lit up. As it did, Jack turned to Kinsey.  
  
"Senator!" he cried cheerily.  
  
"Yes, Colonel?" Kinsey replied, satisfied that his plan was back on track.  
  
"You're an asshole, Senator!" said Jack with glee. He shouted a phrase at him in Arabic, which only Lieutenant Mustapha Aziz in the control room reacted to by falling over in his chair with laughter. When asked by his colleagues later for a translation, he was still laughing as he uttered "May you find your wife in bed with your brother!"  
  
As the fourth chevron illuminated, Jack reached for Sam's hand and laced his fingers with hers. "Let's at least go out in style, Carter!" he said, smiling at her.  
  
"That's *Sam* to you, O'Neill!" she replied, laughing. They waited a little longer, and Hammond could only admire their sang froid.  
  
"Chevron seven......" came Davis' voice over the loudspeaker. Sam and Jack leaned towards each other for a light kiss on the lips. They stayed in that position until the voice continued.  
  
"Will not engage!"  
  
Jack sighed. "You see, Carter, you can't trust machines. They're like politicians. You believe in them, and they let you down when you really need them."  
  
"Couldn't agree more, Sir." she replied. "Fucking useless."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	18. Friends in High Places

Chapter 18 – Friends in High Places  
  
After four attempts and hours of computer technicians' time in diagnostic manoeuvres, everyone except the Andan Ambassador was convinced that the malfunction was not their own Stargate acting up.  
  
"I demand that you keep trying!" was his final outburst before Senator Kinsey calmed him down, adding his own reluctant agreement to the opinions around him.  
  
"This isn't finished, Hammond!" Kinsey fumed in the General's office. "This extradition will be carried out. It is the will of the US Government and cannot now be countermanded by The President."  
  
"And in the absence of any means of contacting Andar, it is worthless." stated Hammond. "Now if you have quite finished, Senator, we have work to do around here. You can leave as soon as you like."  
  
"Not without my prisoners!" retorted Kinsey. "They're coming with us."  
  
"That will not happen, Senator, as long as there's breath left in my body." said Hammond with a firmness that silenced his opponent. "Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter will remain under my jurisdiction until such time as The President himself instructs me to hand them over." He glared at the man with contempt. "You've already threatened me with everything that you can, Kinsey." he stormed, his face reddening. "Take your NID men and this *alien* and get off my base before I have Major Griff and his squad take you on the scenic route out of here! Understood?"  
  
"All right, *General*!" said Kinsey. "But you know I'll be back within a day or two to take what's mine. And I doubt very much whether your tenure of office will extend that far."  
  
In response, Hammond picked up the telephone and punched a number. "Sergeant? Have Major Griff report to my office with his men immediately for armed escort duty."  
  
It was not really so strange, thought Jack, that Griff appeared at the door less than thirty seconds later, backed up by his squad. 'Almost as if he'd been waiting.' he mused as he stood at the back of the room. His thin smile was caught by Carter and they exchanged a flash of recognising identical thoughts.  
  
As the party left the room and disappeared down the corridor to the accompaniment of Griff's strongest parade ground voice clearing the way and encouraging them to move faster, Jack turned to his Commanding Officer and asked, "Scenic route, General?"  
  
"CO's prerogative." smiled Hammond. "Major Griff will escort them up to the NORAD levels via the emergency escape route. You know, the one we train on for when the elevators aren't working. I doubt that Kinsey will have the energy to call Washington for a while after that." He gestured with his arm. "Sit down, you two. The fun's over for now, and I'm damned if they're taking you like this." He picked up the telephone again. "Have Captain Hailey and Lieutenant Grogan report to my office, please. Thank you, Sergeant. And would you have meals and drinks for five brought to the Briefing Room in fifteen minutes. We shall be in closed session until further notice."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"This is an informal meeting with no recording devices." said Hammond to the four officers around the table, who were listening intently despite continuing their meals. He looked at Hailey and Grogan in turn. "I've called you two in because I don't know whether I can protect you from NID surveillance and possible interrogation and arrest for more than a few days."  
  
"Thank you, Sir." replied Jen Hailey. "I speak for Lieutenant Grogan when I say that we realise that fact, and are willing to do anything to prevent the Colonel and the Major from being taken to Andar again."  
  
"Thanks, Jen, but you know you don't have......" Jack interrupted.  
  
"Yes we do!" she came quickly back at him. "Sir!"  
  
"Jack, we're past the stage of keeping them out of it." said Hammond, and Sam nodded her agreement. "Now, tell me the part that you left out of the previous debriefings." he continued. "What did you do to their Stargate?"  
  
Sam opened her mouth to start an explanation, but Hammond made a brief hand gesture and looked pointedly at Hailey.  
  
"I blew it up with a supercharged wormhole." Jen replied in a calm voice. "The problem is, I don't know whether it's just charred and fused and can be repaired, or whether the damage is more permanent. What I was aiming for at the very least was a large enough blast from the 'kawoosh' to damage their DHD beyond repair so that they couldn't dial out anywhere. We can only determine the extent of the damage by eyewitness reports or a surveillance mission."  
  
"How did you do it?" asked the General, fascinated by the forthrightness of his aspiring officer. "I thought that these things were nigh on indestructible?"  
  
"I attached one of the Andan subspace multipliers to the circuitry of a DHD on another world." Hailey responded. "Major Carter and I worked out how to do it while we were on board the Tel'tak coming back from Andar. That's why we were dropped off on that *smell-hole* of a planet for a few days – so that the Major had time to get back here to assist in getting us back in through this Gate, while we could 'bomb' the Andan Stargate using the DHD on that world."  
  
"But what about the risk of causing many casualties on Andar?" asked Hammond.  
  
"We sent a warning note in five languages first." explained Hailey. "Jack..... I mean the Colonel wrote it out in English, Spanish, French, Latin and Arabic, so that they couldn't be too sure of who had sent it." Sam looked at him in amazement and he shrugged his shoulders, while Jen continued. "It said that their Stargate address was behaving strangely when we dialled it and that they should evacuate to a distance of four hundred chains – that's five miles to us - or more as a temporary precaution. I tied it to a rock and threw it into the Event Horizon. Then after a long enough interval so that they could discuss things and hopefully get away, I attached the Multiplier to the DHD and dialled again."  
  
"And?" asked Hammond, fascinated.  
  
"Apparently it worked, Sir." replied Jen.  
  
"Sir," Sam interrupted, just bursting to add words of clarification. Jack recognised the signs of what he called 'Carter's floodgates of explanation' and looked down at the table with a mock grimace. She glared at him but continued anyway. "The dialling devices convey a signal and energy burst in subspace that triggers the development of a wormhole from the departure Gate. The Captain had worked out that boosting the subspace energy to the Gate with a Multiplier would develop a much more energetic wormhole than usual, and that the destination gate might not be able to handle it. I don't know why the Andans hadn't thought of it themselves – the threat of using it would make a formidable weapon, giving them immense bargaining power over other worlds."  
  
"Immense *blackmailing* power, you mean." said Jack wryly. "And that's what's been worrying me all the time since we blew their Gate out. We haven't ended contact with Andar, just made it temporarily or permanently more difficult. The NID wants this deal so badly that they'll trade using space ships if necessary. And once the Andans fix their Gate and figure out what we did to it, they could blow away Cheyenne Mountain altogether if they wanted to."  
  
"So what do you suggest we do about it?" asked Hammond.  
  
The silence that followed indicated so well that practical suggestions were hard to come by. Surprisingly, it was Jeff Grogan who came out with the words that mattered.  
  
"Make their civil war less one-sided." he stated simply. The statement reverberated around in the silence, which Jeff mistook for disapproval. "Sorry. Sirs. Stupid idea."  
  
"Au contraire, Lieutenant." smiled Jack. "It's brilliant."  
  
"It is?" said Jeff, truly puzzled. "Er, thanks, I think."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"Don't even think it." said Sam, stuffing clothes into her Air Force holdall as she ransacked the drawers and cupboard in her bedroom. "You know what I mean, Jack. Whether we live another day or another fifty years, you're never leaving my sight again."  
  
He closed his mouth with a snap, never having uttered the first letter of her name. But she had quite accurately predicted his thoughts, and in that moment, he realised just how much she loved him. So he put aside his initial embarrassment at being dragged into her bedroom to help her pack, and watched in fascination as she drew out items of clothing both personal and practical, quickly discarding onto the floor those that were unsuitable for their immediate, possibly one-way journey. After fifteen minutes, she pronounced herself ready to go and they left the room. She stopped in her lounge and looked around, a gesture that Jack totally misunderstood.  
  
"You're losing so much. I'll make it up to you one day." he said quietly. Sam looked round at him, surprised by the gentle note in his voice. She dropped the bag and turned, placing her arms round his neck.  
  
"You don't get it, do you?" she said, clearly understanding that this was a statement rather than a question.  
  
He shook his head just once, and breathed "No."  
  
She took a deep breath. "I thought of this as home - my refuge – for a long time. And when Pete was here with me, at first I felt content that I'd got the balance of my life right. Well, I lied to myself to the point where I believed it for a while. Then you went out on a limb for all of us *yet again* and I realised that I'd never stopped loving you. I told you on the way back to Earth that I'm living for you now. Please don't tell me that you don't believe me. Wherever we end up is OK if you just love me back." She paused a moment. "I'm not going soft: I know we might not make it through this or the next one. But it should have been me with you last time, not Hailey and Grogan. And it always will be in future, I promise you that."  
  
He pulled away from her just a little and stared into the intenseness of her eyes. Then he touched his forehead against hers and sighed, "When did I get so lucky?" and kissed her gently. He could feel the warmth, both physical and emotional, radiating from her and the kiss deepened for a minute. But knowing that time was wasting if they were to make this future happen, they broke apart. Sam crossed over to her bookcase and without hesitation, picked a single worn book from the shelf.  
  
Seeing his curious expression, she showed him the cover title. 'God's Equation, by Amir Aczel', it read. She smiled and said, "It's about Einstein's life and discoveries. He's my hero." She tossed the book into her bag and zipped it shut. Walking out of the house behind Jack, she closed the door on a long chapter of her life.  
  
The frantic packing was repeated at his house, and he wore a wry smile when showing her the cover of his book choice before he packed it away. 'The Art of War', 'by Sun Tzu'. They left quickly, and he didn't even look back as the door slammed behind him. Noticing her quizzical expression, he merely said "It was the loneliest place I ever lived. Until last night.", and her breath caught in her throat.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Apart from supervising the packing of several sealable containers with all their personal gear, as well as survival rations, emergency medical kit and last but not least, spare gun parts and copious quantities of ammunition, O'Neill, Carter, Grogan and Hailey had little to do back at the SGC. Although it was nearly midnight, tiredness had yet to make itself felt to any of them.  
  
General Hammond likewise had not rested since the earlier meeting with his four endangered officers, and had spent the whole time putting together and directing a small task force to get them started on their daring – or reckless, depending on the outcome - mission.  
  
He called O'Neill away from the other three and they stood together in a remote corner of the Control Room where they could talk in private. Jack knew that something was amiss by the expression that the General was failing to conceal. He decided that personal relations took precedence over military rank, and merely said "George?" quietly.  
  
Hammond took a deep breath and then sighed. "I got a call from The President. He said he was sorry, but he had no authority over the Joint Chiefs in internal military affairs. In about an hour's time, General Bauer will arrive with orders for me to stand down as CO with immediate effect. It was good of him to warn me, anyway. I'd like you to tell the others only when you're safely away from here."  
  
"I'm sorry, Sir. If I've been the cause of that, then......" Jack started.  
  
"Don't be silly, Jack." retorted Hammond. "We both know the score. It's a sad day when the country is being secretly run by a self-appointed bunch of thugs pulling strings at all levels. I'm glad we'll be able to get the four of you away in time. And you just might save us from worse to come if you stop the Andan Multipliers from getting here. Go with my blessing. I regret nothing, and I hope you don't either."  
  
"Thanks, George, I'm truly honoured to have served under you." replied Jack. "No regrets, except one, maybe."  
  
"Which is?"  
  
"That Sam and I won't be married before we leave for God knows how long – maybe forever." Jack laughed. "Don't look at me like that, George. I'm as old-fashioned as you."  
  
"Now that's a wish I can grant you, if you both want it." said Hammond, his eyebrows raised. "The chaplain is on Base tonight. I can have someone wake him up if you don't mind rushing. Go and ask her, son. Now!"  
  
And so it was that Grogan and Hailey, not to mention the object of Jack's desire herself, stood in amazement when he limped over at speed and grasped her hand. Their re-telling of the following events would occur time and again over the years, maybe with just a few exaggerations, but not so many as to render the tale unbelievable.  
  
"Sam, will you marry me?" he said quickly.  
  
"What?" she stammered. "I thought I already said 'yes' last night, well, in a roundabout sort of a way. But...."  
  
"In the next ten minutes?"  
  
"Jack, are you feeling OK?"  
  
"Never better. What do you say, Sam? I'd get down on one knee but it'd take ten minutes to get up again."  
  
"Well, we can't have your knees suffer that much, can we?"  
  
"Sam, I'm not joking. You'll make two old men very happy!"  
  
"Two!?"  
  
"Yes, General Hammond as well as me. I'll explain later. What do you say?"  
  
"What about a ring? I mean, I don't mind about that, you got me one already."  
  
Jack fished into his shirt and pulled out his dog-tags. Attached was a small loop holding a gold ring. "While you were shopping for clothes, I went back to the jeweller and got this. I hope you don't mind."  
  
"Jack?"  
  
"Sam!"  
  
Jen Hailey coughed theatrically in the background, and Sam turned to face a glare that brought back crystal clear memories of their conversation in the cargo hold of the Tel'tak. She looked back at Jack's hopeful face and sighed.  
  
"Yes, you idiot."  
  
They turned at the sound of a footfall to see the sleep-lined face of the chaplain staring at them, with General Hammond standing behind him to block any possible retreat. The priest's rumpled hair, bleary eyes, Homer Simpson tee-shirt, slacks and bare feet in unlaced trainers gave him an individual look, one not seen at many weddings.  
  
In the background, Sergeant Davis was surreptitiously dialling the numbers of as many personnel as he could, whispering into the mouthpiece of his headset instructions to get here as quickly as possible if they didn't want to miss 'The Big Event'. Those who merely cursed and went back to sleep, annoyed at his supposed practical joke, would kick themselves later.  
  
The words "You may kiss the bride" came simultaneously with "Chevron Seven Engaged!", followed closely by an aide calling General Hammond to say that General Bauer had arrived at the entrance to the SGC and was demanding to see him. The only available wedding photos were extracted later from security camera films, and showed the bride and groom with their best man and bridesmaid departing through the Stargate with unusual haste behind a squad of men carrying several containers.  
  
General Bauer was surprised too to find the man he had come to replace sitting behind his office desk lighting a large cigar, contrary to all regulations about smoking on Base.  
  
"Bauer, you're an asshole." said George Hammond with relish, blowing smoke in his direction.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	19. Depths

Chapter 19 – Depths  
  
Jen had been staring at the monitor screen in the corner of the bridge of the Prometheus for what seemed like hours, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, unable to tear herself away from the sights of what she had caused. Her thoughts ranged between wondering how many had died, and how they had ever thought that what they were trying to achieve could be worth this much destruction. It was Jack who eventually pulled her away none too gently, and walked her back to a quiet corner where they couldn't be overheard easily by the rest of the crew at the main consoles. Sam looked on as he sat beside Hailey with his arm round the younger officer, who was concentrating on not breaking down in tears. Two weeks ago, she would have been jealous of the bond that had developed between the role-playing 'father and daughter', but now it filled her with immense pride in her husband's abundant caring presence.  
  
Sam sat down where Jen had been scrutinising the scene before her on the monitor and ran through the recordings for herself. The island that had held the Andan Stargate simply was not there any more. It might never have existed according to the map that the Prometheus' computers drew of the planet from close orbit. Except of course, the radar map – which paid no heed to coverings of water – that revealed a large oval crater on the sea bed, wiped clean of all forms of plant life. Their magnetic anomaly detector could even plot the location of the Stargate, now some three miles distant to seaward from its original location but at a depth of at least four hundred fathoms in a sub-sea trench. The giant hand of Hailey's 'supercharged wormhole' had propelled its thirty eight tonnes back in a huge arc through the sky. The reaction to the explosion of nuclear proportions had not merely destroyed the DHD as they had hoped, but had vaporised the whole island.  
  
On the coast nearby, the resultant mini-tsunami had driven ashore leaving its signature trail of wreckage, still unrepaired days after the event. Stumps of piers and jetties, fallen trees, smashed dwellings – all transformed in a terrible instant. Further on, the docks in the port city of Jobe, their 'home' for so long, were wrecked. Ships both large and small lay at crazy angles in the water, some of the smaller ones even lifted and strewn across the cargo handling areas and storehouses.  
  
Sam couldn't help but strain to listen to the scene being played out behind her as she took in the data on the screen. "It doesn't get any easier, Jen." said Jack softly. "And I won't lie to you that there's things you can do or say to make the emptiness go away." He squeezed her gently. "Look at me." He had to say it a second time before she complied.  
  
"It's different from the heat of battle, isn't it?" he continued, and she nodded once in agreement. "That's when you're high on adrenaline, kill or be killed, right?"  
  
"Yes" she whispered dumbly.  
  
"But this is a calculated act, and the uncertainty of what you can't predict can have tragic consequences." said Jack slowly. "It's natural to blame yourself, to believe that you could have taken more care, or done things differently."  
  
"But that's what I should have......" Jen exclaimed before he cut her short.  
  
"I know you, Jen. You took all the care you could, with Carter's help." He glanced up and knew that Sam was listening, and that he was saying this for her benefit too. "We can't pretend that we were acting out of altruism or that we realised at the time that we had to prevent the Andans from doing the same to us. We did it to improve our chances of staying free."  
  
"I know that." Jen replied in a small voice. "It doesn't help."  
  
"Well that's just the first step." said Jack. "In the long run there's no comfort in hiding behind any fortunate outcomes. Be true to yourself in accepting the reasons why we did it. You may hate yourself for a while, but it passes in time if you can answer one question honestly."  
  
Jen looked up at him. "Would I do the same again?"  
  
Jack squeezed her, proud of her vision and maturity. "S'right. And if you know that you really would, it'll make you that much more ready for the next time." He looked at her until she turned her gaze to his eyes. "There will be a next time, Jen, probably more than once. You never lose the feeling of guilt or the desire to do it better, or wish that it wasn't necessary. If you do, then you're losing your soul. It takes real courage to believe in yourself."  
  
Jen closed her eyes and couldn't help tears streaming down her cheeks. Her shoulders jerked up and down a couple of times as she sobbed, but then she subsided a little and leaned her head against Jack's chest. At the monitor screen, Sam was not seeing the images in front of her. She was lost in his depth of understanding because she herself had gone through the same experiences, and remembered how it was usually him who had comforted her afterwards.  
  
After a few more deep breaths, Jen pulled away a little and said, "How did you get over it, Jack? You never give in to this kind of thing."  
  
"Don't I?" he murmured and stayed silent for a while. "It just gets easier to hide, is all."  
  
"Wish I was you." Jen said softly, and Sam gasped at the depth of raw emotion that her junior had put into those words.  
  
"No you don't. Not really." said Jack. "Because there's a whole lot worse than what we've just done, believe me."  
  
"Worse?" asked Jen.  
  
Jack stared into nothingness for a good while. Sam thought that the conversation was drawing to a close, and was surprised when she heard his voice again. She knew that Jack had never revealed himself this much to anyone before, not even herself in their most intimate moments over the years. And so she recognised just how much Jennifer Hailey meant to him, not as a rival for her affections, but as someone he felt should be let into his inner circle, to protect and respect.  
  
"Taking someone's life in cold blood, when they offer no resistance and are not an immediate threat, is the most degrading experience of all." His voice was almost breaking as he said it. "The military rewards you for being good at it. Praises you in secret, gives you a medal for some other made-up act of selflessness and sends you out to do it again. If you're lucky, you get through your career without breaking down or losing it. But they don't teach you how to live with the nightly visits from the faces you've exterminated."  
  
No-one dared interrupt the silence that followed, and still he had more to say. "Then you keep doing it because you don't want someone else to have to take your place. It's your 'duty' as someone who's damned to prevent others from being like yourself. You believe in a God and hope that he accepts death-bed repentance, but you hope he doesn't exist and that death is really an end to it all. You don't want to die; you want to live, to be loved and to do right by those you care for. But death will be merciful if it really brings peace. But worst of all, you're on your own with your memories. Forever, because no-one deserves to be dragged into your private hell."  
  
Sam and Jen sat in silence, stunned by his words. Without ceremony, he let go of Jen and quickly walked off the bridge without looking back. The two women stared at each other, their own situations forgotten for the moment. Sam felt the need to run after him, to console him, to tell him how much more she had come to love and respect him in the last few moments, but just didn't dare.  
  
The distraction of another crew member asking for her opinion on the functioning of some obscure piece of the ship's machinery was not exactly welcome, but at least prevented her from making the mistake of approaching him when he wasn't ready for it, and for that she was in due course grateful.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Jack didn't reappear for the 'evening' meal and it was with no small trepidation that Sam re-entered their sleeping quarters afterwards. Although they had been married for five whole Earth days, they had not made love since their first night together, some twenty-four hours before their hurried ceremony. For a start, their single bunk beds, one over the other, were rather small to be comfortable enough for anything frenetic. Secondly, it didn't seem the right thing to do on a crowded ship when the slightest sounds travelled through metal bulkhead walls. Not until they were safely camped on Andar and not putting anyone in danger by inattention to their surroundings.  
  
In the dim light she found Jack lying in just his shorts on top of the blankets on the lower bunk, his arm over his eyes. He wasn't asleep and clearly hadn't been since he'd left the bridge earlier. She rapidly shed her outer clothes and sat down on the edge of his bed, reaching to take his hand in hers.  
  
"Don't Sam. Please." he said quietly. "I'm so sorry that you've thrown your life away on me."  
  
She was ready for this, much to his surprise. "Quit fooling, Jack." she retorted quite sharply. "You're never going to be quite so on your own again. Never."  
  
"No, you don't understand." said Jack, but he got no further as she placed her free hand firmly across his mouth. He looked up at her in surprise.  
  
"What makes you think that you're the only lucky one in this marriage, Jack? Because you got someone younger who makes you look good in company?" His startled expression spurred her on. "No, I didn't think so. Your love amazes me, and I can't believe what's happening to my life. I don't believe I'll ever be able to live up to what you deserve. Not for what happened today or last week, but for everything...... *everything* that you've done for me and the others since I've known you. So why don't you take a leaf out of your own book and believe in yourself too?"  
  
He made to speak but she silenced him again.  
  
"When and if you feel like talking about what goes on in your head, I'll be listening. No platitudes, I promise you, and no easy answers. Just my attempt at understanding and being there for you. But you've got to promise to keep me up at low points too - I get them as well."  
  
He smiled weakly and reached up to brush a few strands of hair behind her ear. "C'mere." He gently pulled her towards him and held her gently as she lay on top of him. They struggled around and ended up lying face-to-face on their sides, and couldn't stop smiling at each other.  
  
"Sound doesn't travel in a vacuum." she said coyly.  
  
"Won't hear us on the planet, then." he replied.  
  
"Won't hear us on board either." she came back.  
  
"No? Venting the airlock, are we?  
  
"Not exactly. Any moment now, Hailey will be ramping up her CD player through the ship's comms system."  
  
"You asked her to?"  
  
"Clever girl thought of it herself."  
  
"Romantic music?"  
  
"Status Quo."  
  
"Good for getting into a rhythm, anyway."  
  
"Knock yourself out."  
  
"Be gentle with me, then."  
  
Her peal of girlish laughter was quite definitely heard all along that deck before the first vibrant bass notes set the pace of the next half hour.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	20. I Am Who I'm Not

Chapter 20 – I Am Who I'm Not  
  
"Jen!" cried the familiar voice behind her. "Where have you been?" Even though this was the very reason she had waited to be here on the street near the Safety and Health Bureau at just the right time, a nervous shudder ran through her and she composed her features quickly before turning round.  
  
"Karra!" she cried on seeing him, hoping that the tone of her voice conveyed the right note of pleasure. "It's good seeing you too!" She gave an obviously admiring glance at his grey SHB uniform. "Don't you look handsome like that! I don't think I've ever seen you in full daylight before."  
  
"That is so." he replied. "So many things are changing since the Gate disaster. I have other duties now at the Bureau and I just don't get to the bar in the evenings like I used to. How is it?"  
  
"I, er, don't work there any more." said Jen a little sheepishly, having rehearsed not only her story but also the points of inflection. "I got sick and the boss didn't like me staying away that, and he told me not to come back. So then I went home with my father for a big family celebration and we only came back recently. Isn't it awful what's happened?" As she said the words she briefly hated herself, but at the same time wondered how she felt so confident that she could not only continue with this charade, but would see it through no matter what. She thought quickly about various ways of diverting the conversation away from herself.  
  
"How has your wife been?" she said in a conspiratorial voice. "She didn't suspect anything about you coming to the bar every night, did she?"  
  
"No, I don't think so." he replied equally softly, leaning towards her and looking around nervously as he spoke. "And your betrothed? Did he.....?"  
  
Jen shook her head. The thought struck her that Jeff had been upset for so long with her work as a bar girl, but now that she respected and maybe loved him more than before, it was annoying that he didn't seem to be as jealous when she had suggested getting back with her previous contacts as a means to further their campaign. Bringing her thoughts back to the job in hand, she saw her opportunity with the man who had been so smitten with her.  
  
"Karra, look, I know it isn't right to ask you, but I really need to find paying work right now. The head cleaner at the Bureau wouldn't see me because I was away for so long after I was sick." She paused and gave him a sultry smile. "Do you think you could, well....."  
  
"Of course I will, Jen." replied Karra quickly. Fantasies of the two of them stealing moments together flashed through his mind and she didn't even need to finish asking. "I'll get him to take you back, just you see. Don't concern yourself." Illicit trading was nothing new between guards and other, more menial workers at the Bureau. A favour given was a favour owed – and would Jen owe him for this!  
  
Jen looked round furtively to see that no-one else in uniform was watching them, and kissed him quickly on the cheek. "Thank you, Karra. You're nice." She smiled as he blushed.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
The back-street drinking room was as unwelcoming on the outside as it had been before the tidal wave caused by the Stargate explosion had flushed away years of grime from the narrow street near the docks, depositing a trail of sea-sand and jetsam in its wake. Anything remotely useful had been pillaged straight away, leaving only piles of timber from broken crates, trees and fences littering the cobbles. The warm Andan climate had quickly dried out the street and lower parts of buildings after the flood, bringing back the familiar smell – some, like Sam who hadn't lived here before, would say *stench* - of the slum area.  
  
Jack entered the bar with a confident air about him, in spite of his obvious limp. Closely behind, Sam looked carefully but nonchalantly around at the chorus of rough male inhabitants, surprised into momentary silence by the presence of a woman, but more so by the return of Jack himself. They walked to an empty table at the side and sat on the wooden bench against the wall where they could look across the dimly-lit room in relative safety. A small man sauntered from behind a serving-desk in the far corner and approached them.  
  
He looked at them both for a moment before speaking. "Didn't expect to see you back here, Mister Jak. Thought you might have drowned or been taken like old Tonn. His brother has been hoping you would come. Wants to know what happened that day at the Gate."  
  
"That's between him and me." said Jack in a low voice that he knew would remind them all that he was indeed back, and still his own man. "A quart of ale and two clean cups, now. Look sharp!" The barman cast another glance at Sam and returned to the corner.  
  
Minutes later, a swarthy man with only thin wisps of grey hair on the sides of his head approached them as they sipped at the deep brown liquid in their pewter cups. He sat opposite them and stared at Sam, who had yet to speak since she entered. She stared back at him, wearing an expression of mild distaste. He soon turned his gaze to Jack.  
  
"You owe me." said the man gruffly.  
  
Jack withdrew a small leather pouch from his tunic pocket and tossed it towards the stranger. It landed on the table in front of him. "There's half the down payment agreed. It's all you're getting for now. In all the excitement, the SHB guards didn't take it away from me at the Gate. The paper money dried out quite well, though."  
  
"Where's the rest?" demanded the ruffian.  
  
"It's all you're getting for now, as I said." replied Jack. "The other two didn't get through the Gate, so you've not strictly done anything for me yet."  
  
"We kept our bargain and got you there. Not our fault if they didn't make it through." came the response. "What happened to Tonn?"  
  
"He got shot before me, that's all I know." said Jack, shrugging his shoulders. "My friend who got us away from there didn't take him. If you want a guess, I'd say he's probably living in luxury in the basement of the SHB building, or gone to one of their camps already."  
  
"We want our money." repeated the man, anger flashing through his eyes. "Perhaps you're offering the woman instead?" He nodded towards Sam as he spoke, and reached for the money pouch on the table.  
  
His shock was complete as Sam quickly produced her combat knife from under the table, and scythed her arm down in one swift movement, just scraping the skin of his forearm as the weapon firmly pinned his tunic sleeve to the wooden table top. He tried to pull away but couldn't, and alarm spread to his features.  
  
"Are you deaf as well as stupid?" she said belligerently, not taking her stare from his look of shock.  
  
All eyes in the room were cast in their direction and silence reigned. Everyone heard Jack's next words. "I don't believe you've met my new wife. I could walk out of here now and she'd still carve your guts out. So be nice."  
  
After another moment's tension, the man suddenly relaxed and laughed out loud. He glanced at Sam and she pulled the knife away, feeding it back into the sheath at her waist. The noise of background conversations slowly started up again and the waiter brought another metal cup to the table, which Jack filled from their ale jug.  
  
"So, why have you returned, Jak?" the man asked.  
  
"As you said, Brelok, we had a bargain." Jack replied. "The money was only the first part. I'm keeping the rest of it as *expenses* for the other part of our deal."  
  
"What?" his adversary asked in surprise. Quickly the realisation dawned upon him. "You mean, you'd still help us free our families from the SHB camps? Why?"  
  
"Because it's personal now." Jack replied. "They would have taken or killed us all at the Gate. You think I'm going to wait around until they try again?"  
  
Brelok looked at Sam again and frowned. "But you just got bonded and brought your wife along? That doesn't make sense." He was unnerved by the way she carried an expression of dismissal every time she glanced back at him.  
  
"Her choice." Jack muttered tersely.  
  
"I was bored." Sam added. "You think perhaps I'm just some kind of house- keeper and bed-partner for him?"  
  
"Obviously not." replied Brelok, as a flash of envy passed through his mind. But only the briefest of visions – he'd seen Jack take down opponents before and didn't want to be on the wrong side of him. He turned back to face him. "We hear tell that you were rescued at the Gate by a strange flyer. One that took you and then smashed the ferry boat afterwards. Who was that?"  
  
"A family friend." said Jack nonchalantly. "And that's all you're going to know. But we're wasting time here. We'll only meet in private in future, no more discussions like this in public. The SHB was tracking Tonn to the Gate, not us." He paused for effect. "Tell Klint I want a meeting soon to plan the next steps."  
  
Brelok's features could not conceal the shock he felt at Jack's use of that name.  
  
"That's *Field Commander* Klint, in case you think it's a coincidence." said Jack. "We are acquainted."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Sam waited until they were well out of earshot of anyone as they walked along the street together, her arm in his. "*Carve his guts out*, did I hear?" she asked, a note of amusement in her voice.  
  
"Bed-partner?" he replied, a smirk across his own face.  
  
She couldn't help smiling back. "Yeah, well, Jen's been teaching me some of the choicer expressions. It seems her time working in the bar was very *educational* in some respects."  
  
"Expressions don't come any choicer than that round here." he replied. "Did she, er, explain any more about it?"  
  
"No. Why?"  
  
"I'll demonstrate tonight, if you like."  
  
"Should I be worried?"  
  
"Try 'thrilled'."  
  
"Before or after?"  
  
"Both, and 'during' as well."  
  
"Now I'm worried."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"Jen, you don't have to do this." Jack said calmly, intending for her to understand that it really was her free choice. "We have enough useful intel to go with the next phase right now."  
  
"No, Jack." came her determined reply. "You know that the risk now is much lower than it will be later. I can do this. One last time."  
  
That was the wrong thing to say, she suddenly realised. Jack's stare was unnerving: they all knew that superstitious actors never mentioned the name of a certain Shakespearian play, and that the fatal words 'One Last Time' were an omen that hard-nosed ops personnel couldn't quite square away with a rational outlook. Jen looked around the table in turn at Sam and Jeff: even he was not disposed to argue with her.  
  
"So I go." she added with finality. "Quit worrying..... Dad." She grinned at him, rose and walked to the small room that she and Grogan had labelled 'theirs' and quickly got changed into her normal attire for another night- time spent as a cleaner. But this time, knowing that Jack would probably want her to do it anyway before she left, she strapped her Beretta around her waist under her overalls and put two extra clips in her inside pocket.  
  
"See you back here at dawn!" she said cheerily, kissing the top of Jeff's head as he remained sitting. He quickly squeezed the hand she had placed on his shoulder before she left the room quickly. The others remained seated in a silence that seemed to be driven by Jack's attitude.  
  
"Jack?" asked Sam at length. He was almost radiating concern, something she had seen him do occasionally over the years, and she had come to respect it as a sign that whatever he did next would be based on instinct rather than logic. She trusted his instincts more than his logic.  
  
He looked back at her quizzical expression, taking in Grogan's air of expectancy at the same time. He realised that he wouldn't have to justify what he was planning, that they would both accept it as necessary. The bond that was developing between the four of them was becoming increasingly evident to him as each week had passed.  
  
"How many of those multipliers have you brought back here?" he asked Jeff.  
  
"Twelve so far." replied Grogan. "I can't make it too obvious. The salvage crews in the docks are searched at random by the SHB, and a few of the guys have been arrested. There's all kinds of stuff being 'liberated' and....."  
  
"That's OK." Jack interjected. He turned to his wife. "Carter, you've worked out how you can use them to blow the electricity supplies to the building, yes?"  
  
"Yes." she replied immediately, smiling inwardly at his continuing habit of calling her by her old name. "I've made some couplings to connect them in series. That should overload the circuits and damage the generator beyond immediate repair. But getting into the generator room undetected may be problematic."  
  
"Maybe." he mused. "Grogan, you and Carter will be the break-in team. I'll be covering you from that old stone tower opposite the SHB building with the M-82. I can see most of the grounds from there, and also the corridor and rooms where Hailey will be working. I'll guide you in over the radios. When I give a signal, Carter – you cut the power with your doohickey. As soon as it goes down, you get the hell out of there, don't wait for anything or anyone. Hailey and the other staff will probably be evacuated from the building. If it looks like she can't get away from them easily, I'll create a diversion. If I think you can assist, I'll instruct you what to do. We RV back here and proceed to evacuate as we planned."  
  
"Is the weapon working properly now, Jack?" asked Grogan. "It *was* buried for the last few months."  
  
"Pretty well. he replied. "Packing it in grease like you suggested seems to have saved it from sea water damage. You get to clean it next time, too!" Jack wouldn't forget the hours he'd spent transferring the viscous oily fluid from the gun to himself and his surroundings.  
  
Without being told to, the three of them proceeded to pack anything they would be taking with them and destroy the rest in the hearth fire, just like before. It didn't take long, and as midnight passed they set out on their mission along dark, deserted streets. Near the SHB building Jack left them and found his way to the old building with the stone tower that would be his vantage point. He easily forced a small window at the back and climbed in awkwardly, and ascended the narrow stairs winding up the tower.  
  
Settling into place in one of the openings at the tower top, he assembled the rifle with care in semi-darkness, the only light source being the distant glare of the single searchlight that illuminated the front of the SHB building.  
  
He adjusted the earpiece of his radio – one of the many items given to them unofficially by the crew of the Prometheus when they had left them on the planet. "Comms check." was all he said. He was fairly certain that the frequencies they were using were well outside those normally used by the Andans, but he was cautious nonetheless. He was relieved to hear the single word 'Check' coming back from both Grogan and Sam. He settled down to watch the movements in the grounds and in the well-lit interior of the building through the sniper scope, and to calm his nerves.  
  
It struck him that this was possibly his first test of life-threatening military ops with the woman he had cared about for so long, but who now meant more than ever. In idle musings in times gone by, he hadn't thought that it would change his outlook if he and Sam were actually married or just together. How wrong he had been! Just being willing to die for someone was no longer enough. He was aware too that Hailey and Grogan were getting under his skin in ways he would never have imagined.  
  
Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind with some effort, he prepared himself to direct them on an operation that, if it went wrong, would take away everyone he wanted to be in his life.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	21. Harsh Reality

Chapter 21 – Harsh Reality  
  
'Piece of cake. Piece of cake. Piece of cake.' The words kept tumbling through Jen's mind as she replaced the last of the files into the drawers and pocketed her miniature camera. Just like all the previous times that she had scanned the contents of empty offices in the almost-deserted SHB building, this had presented hardly any challenge. And what was more, she didn't have to memorise so many files and items since their return to Andar, having acquired her miniature digital camera from her lab at the SGC before their hasty departure from Earth.  
  
This was 'good stuff' too, she was thinking as she checked the corridor both ways before sliding out of the room and closing the door silently behind her. She had gained strong indications of where the Earth weapons lay in storage, awaiting instructors from Earth who were now indefinitely delayed by the loss of their Stargate. She'd come across a memo about that cataclysmic event as well – possible sabotage, they thought, but more likely a technical malfunction causing enormous damage. Andan physics was highly advanced in anything relating to the application of electric power, but limited by an incredible lack of engineering finesse by Earth standards.  
  
Thinking it through as she walked back down the long corridor, she saw that their Gate had been there for generations, and had been taken for granted by all but a few curious souls, none of whom was too intent on drawing public attention to themselves under the Andans' persistently harsh forms of Government. Since the day the sub-space multipliers had come to her attention – only eight months ago, she realised, but it seemed like forever now – she had wondered how the Andans could have developed such a good empirical knowledge of the means to make them, but even today understood relatively little of the underlying science and the consequences of their use.  
  
Jack had made her see the parallel on Earth - that generations of engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs had found clever ways to burn hydrocarbon fuels to make fast, plentiful and luxurious transport, along with inefficiently-heated and cooled buildings. There too, so few had tried to come to terms with the consequences of limitless use. Couple that with a global economy that required constant growth in demand to sustain the value of money, and she now though it inevitable that the oncoming juggernauts of loss of climate stability and energy shortfall would hit them all within a generation. The Tau'ri were no cleverer nor more advanced than the Andans after all.  
  
This train of thought had taken away her full attention from her surroundings. Her heart skipped a beat when a grey-clad figure emerged through the doors at the end of the corridor, and she recognised the guard immediately, just about the same time that his face lit up in delight as he stared back at her.  
  
"Jen!" he cried, then suddenly looked round as he realised that talking aloud was not such a good idea. He continued in a stage whisper. "Surprise! It's good fortune for us tonight." He walked forward to where she had come to a halt, her uncertain expression clearly indicating that she was wondering what to do next.  
  
"Karra!" Not the most original greeting, but she was still undecided. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"You need to ask?" he smiled back at her, walking towards her with his arms outstretched. "I've waited so long to be alone with you. I know that you want this too!"  
  
"But the other cleaners..." she started to say as he hugged her.  
  
"I told them to finish early. Something about a security search. They're outside by now." he explained enthusiastically. "And I know a room on the top floor with a huge soft carpet. We can have a few hours together. Come, Jen, I'll show you just how much I've come to care about you!"  
  
Noticing that she was standing stiffly in his arms and had not replied, he stepped back in puzzlement. As his hands moved down, he felt the large solid object at her waist, underneath her overalls. She suddenly pushed him away roughly, a hastily-improvised look of anger on her face.  
  
"Get off me, Karra! What do you think you're doing, eh? You think I'm a street-woman, or worse?" she spat at him.  
  
"Jen!" he exploded. "What are you playing at?" He looked down to the now- obvious bulge at her side and a harder expression replaced his surprise. He stepped back a few paces and reached for his holstered stun-gun with a practised fluid movement, and the weapon was pointing at her before she could even begin to reach inside her overalls for her own gun.  
  
"Stand still!" he thundered. "Raise your arms, now! Now, I said!" But his undoing began at that instant, when anger and suspicion replaced professional behaviour. Instead of treating her like one of his many arrests of Andan citizenry, he stared at her, directing his weapon at her upper torso, where it would have the greatest effect when fired. "You whore! I believed you all these months. You've been using me! What are you doing here?"  
  
Jen was by now experiencing an adrenaline rush that made her realise what she should have done, and more importantly, what she had to do next. "Oh, Karra, please! You're frightening me!" she pleaded. "It's just the shock of seeing you. Where did you say this room is? We can go there right now." She began to unbutton her overalls.  
  
"I said stand still!" he shouted again, the gun wavering in his hand. "Or I'll paralyse you this moment!"  
  
"Oh, Karra....." she started to say, but froze as she saw his fingers tightening on the firing-button on the side. She flinched, remembering only too well the effect that the Andan guns had had on the much larger figure of Jack, back when they had nearly made it through the Stargate.  
  
At first, she thought that she had indeed been hit by a bolt of electricity. And although the scene that next took place was engraved on her memory in fine detail like a slow-motion film, in reality it passed in less than a second. At the same time as pieces of glass began to fly in from the window, Karra's body was lifted sideways and flung against the solid door of an office, hitting it so hard that it flew open, depositing him on the floor inside the room.  
  
Unable to resist moving forward to look inside, she saw first the splash of blood across the open door, and then took in his crumpled form lying several feet away, a great hole in his side pumping a solid stream of deep red liquid onto the light tan colour of polished wooden floorboards. His staring eyes flickered once and were still. Jen gaped at the scene in abject horror: no amount of combat training had prepared her for this. She had no idea whether she stood there for brief seconds or a longer time. Then, a very loud, sharp crackling sound came from outside, and the lights went out.  
  
It galvanised her into action, and she turned and ran down the corridor to where she remembered the stairwell to be. She descended as quickly as she could in the dark, down three floors to ground level, her heart thumping. She was expecting to be stopped by more guards at any moment, but it seemed that Karra had indeed done a good job of emptying the building for his would-be tryst. As she ran along the twisting corridors to the rear exit, she heard several loud explosions from outside, and fancied that she could also hear the sound of glass breaking as it hit the ground. But all the time, the sight of Karra's bloody demise was etched in her mind.  
  
She burst into the darkened back yard and ran in the general direction of the side gate. She was prepared to climb over the high metal obstacle if it wouldn't open, but was surprised to find it already ajar. She burst into the street and received yet another shock as strong arms suddenly grabbed her, bringing her to a stop. Before she could instinctively perform a disabling combat manoeuvre on whoever was detaining her, Jeff's voice took away her fright.  
  
"It's me, Jen! Be still!" he whispered. On seeing that she had obeyed, he looked across the street to where he could just make out Sam giving him the signal to cross over. He passed a back-pack to her, grabbed her arm and set off at a run, and fortunately Jen followed without hesitation. Jeff followed Sam a little way through the darkened side-streets, and then took the lead since he knew this part of town intimately. They zigzagged down many streets and alleys, the distinctive smell of the waterfront getting stronger. Eventually they came to stop by a small jetty that had been cleared of the wreckage that still littered most parts of the lower town. Jeff moved to a small motor boat and pulled back a tarpaulin, throwing his pack into the boat and stepping in after it. He indicated for Jen to follow him, which she did. Sam waited by the head of the pier, her gun drawn as she peered into the gloom of the streets they had just traversed.  
  
At the sight of a figure making its way towards them, she took aim, only to lower the weapon as soon as she recognised her husband's uneven fast walk. She glanced across the roofline of the adjacent houses and saw an orange glow beginning to develop in the distance, occasionally bringing the silhouettes into sharp relief.  
  
As he reached the pier, Jack motioned for her to get into the boat, and followed closely behind. As soon as he was on board, Jeff opened the throttle and they left quickly but silently. A few hundred metres from shore, the size of the fire raging in the town centre became apparent, and Jack knew that the incendiary rounds he had fired into the bookshelves and other flammable areas of the building had done their work. After viewing the scene for a few moments, he turned round and in the moonlight, saw that Jen was staring at the rifle cover he had placed on the floor. She looked up at him, an expression of loathing on her face that he had never seen before.  
  
"You killed Karra, you bastard!" she suddenly cried. "You didn't need to! I was handling it!" She jumped across at him and landed a punch in his right eye before Jack could raise his hands in defence. She then tried hitting, kicking and kneeing him repeatedly as he fell backwards, until she was hauled off roughly by Sam. She continued to struggle, aiming to continue her assault until Sam firmly and cleanly delivered a sharp, stinging slap to the side of her face. Jen suddenly became still and slumped down, and huge sobs began to wrack her small frame. Sam sat down with her and pulled her into a hug, holding her there for minutes until Jen had calmed down. Jeff kept looking round from the wheel, but concentrated on steering their pre-planned course.  
  
Jack sat up, nursing his swollen eye, but nodded to Sam in response to her questioning look. He proceeded to stow their gear properly in the boat and sat at the back alone, his expression unreadable in this dim moonlight. Eventually Jen went to sit down next to Jeff. Sam moved to the stern and sat beside Jack on the small board. Behind them, the small, high-powered Andan outboard motor propelled them steadily through the water, the waves beginning to slap at the hull as they moved further out to sea before turning parallel to the coast line.  
  
Sensing her husband's dour mood, Sam reached for his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. She leaned her head against his shoulder and to her surprise, felt him shaking. Instinctively, she turned and spoke closely into his ear, just loud enough for only the two of them to know what she was saying.  
  
"Remember, I'm with you now. As long as you want me."  
  
He squeezed her hand briefly in response, but she knew that although it must have been bad for Hailey to have witnessed someone she knew being torn apart by a .50 calibre shell, the cumulative effect on Jack, who would have seen it equally as clearly through his telescopic sight, was taking its toll on him. She would support him in his despair, not through pity, which she knew was 'inappropriate', but because she had been realising day by day that her love and respect for him would only keep growing. However long they might last in the terrible days of guerrilla war to come.  
  
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	22. A Life of Luxury

Chapter 22 – A Life of Luxury  
  
Andan leeches were very like their Earth counterparts some twenty-four thousand light years distant, thought Sam. 'Mustn't pull them off, the effect's the same.' she mused. Looking over her shoulder as she laid naked, face-down on the floor of their tent-hut, she smiled at Jack as he applied more of the ointment that the guerrillas' doctor had given them all. He had a faraway look on his face, only relieved from time to time when another of the small black creatures detached itself from her back under the torment of the lotion, to be picked up and thrown outside as far as he could send them. Had he looked out, he would have seen that most of the camouflaged shelters, just like theirs, were marked by the occupants' clothes turned inside-out, hanging on the trees nearby so that any more of the creatures would drop off by themselves. It was the normal hazard whenever they walked along river beds through the jungle – sometimes the only way through dense foliage and certainly was the best means of eliminating scent trails that dogs might pick up. The ritual of cleansing each other of the parasites had become routine and somewhat unremarkable after the first few times.  
  
"Penny for 'em." she said, her eyebrow raised in the way that Teal'c had taught them.  
  
He smiled back in response. She thought that he wasn't going to say anything for a while, but he replied. "Nothing and everything." Seeing that she wasn't going to let him get away with that, he continued, "I was thinking...... Well, you're amazing, Sam. We're in the fifth month of our tropical honeymoon here in *Costa del Mud*, and you haven't once said anything about what you're missing back home. Or complained about me – 'cept that time when you thought I was letting Jen walk over me – or done anything that I could grouse about."  
  
"Yup! Perfect little wife, that's me." she laughed.  
  
"Apart from the snoring." he added wryly.  
  
"I do not snore!" she replied vehemently.  
  
"And the farting." he said, face deadpan.  
  
"That's rich, coming from you!" was her riposte.  
  
"It's the Andan diet, of course." he continued. "We'd never behave like that back at home. Unless, of course, the local superstore is doing special offers on lizard and jungle fruit stew. And then again, it's a well-known fact that women never fart before they're married." He fell silent again, but continued to treat her remaining 'invaders' with the ointment. After a few minutes, he delivered a playful, resounding slap across her rump, the usual sign that it was time to change places and disinfect him. He couldn't resist it, but the return blow she would land on him always left him wondering *why* he couldn't have resisted doing it. But he knew the answer to that, of course he did.  
  
"Jack, talk to me." said Sam as she set about his back. "Something's brewing, and you promised to be honest with me."  
  
Jack took a deep breath and started what he knew was going to be a difficult conversation. "Look, Sam, I know you're going to take this the wrong way, but I'd consider it a favour if you and Jen didn't participate in the first wave of tomorrow night's attack."  
  
She stiffened and her hands stopped moving, just as he'd known they would. "Why?" The hurt tone of her voice was unmistakeable.  
  
"Have you noticed how 'our' Andans only seem to be confident about going in against the enemy when we open up an attack using the guns we brought from Earth?" he asked. "It's been a problem from the start, and now it's worse. It won't change unless they start believing in their own abilities. Sure, we've still got enough ammunition left for the nine mils and the M-82 to make a few more strikes, but that's not the way any more."  
  
"So you're planning to go in tomorrow using only the Andans' own weapons, then?" she deduced. "Right?" She saw him nod. "Makes sense. But why not have us along? We've been there on every assault so far. Please don't start any 'weak little women' stuff with me, Jack. It won't wash. Jen and I are good enough at hand-to-hand."  
  
"It's not that, and you know it." he said firmly. "But I do know for a fact that you've never had to creep up on a guy on guard duty and knife him to death in a way that he won't struggle or cry out. These electric stun guns are too noisy and the flashes can be seen far enough away to put us at a real disadvantage. With all my heart, Sam, it's something I don't want you or Jen to have to do. I won't make it an order, but I'll tell you right now, the thought of it's tearing me apart."  
  
She paused in mid leech-pull, and the undercurrent of resentment at his words disappeared instantly. Not that she was going to change her mind, though. She had suddenly realised that his motives were genuine Jack O'Neill, and what was on display was his almost limitless caring for the ones close to him, not some gender-related viewpoint. She decided to change tack to get him to understand her point of view.  
  
"Why not exclude Jeff as well?" she asked, smearing more of the lotion over a group of black forms clustered between his shoulder blades.  
  
"I tried." was his blunt reply. "But he threatened me with..... well, I won't say what. But he insisted that he was going to lead his section tomorrow. He's not the most skilled fighter I've seen, but what he lacks in finesse he more than makes up for in sheer guts and determination. You've noticed the changes in him these last few months? His group will follow him anywhere now."  
  
"Meaning they won't follow Jen or me?" she retorted.  
  
He sighed, wondering how to state what he could see with his own eyes, but not wanting to alienate her. "Sam, their society is different from ours back in the USA. They just don't see women in these roles yet."  
  
"All the more reason for us to do it, then." she replied. "Jack, I know too why we have the frat regs back home – I'm just as worried about what might happen to you in these raids now as you are about me. It's worse than before, now that we're married, isn't it? We were both hiding behind the regs with regard to how we felt about each other these last years, but when we were fighting alongside each other in SG-1, those same rules did keep us more focused on the objectives and less on the personal danger."  
  
"I suppose." he admitted with a grunt.  
  
"Well," she continued, pausing before delivering the point that she knew *he* wouldn't accept, "I've got to the point where I can't bear to think of what might happen to us if you go down in one these encounters, Jack. Not just me personally, but all of us. You've got to face up to the fact that you're much too valuable as a leader to be put at risk every time." She felt his muscles stiffen up under her hands as she said it, but she was determined to get through this.  
  
"Klint and T'Nevaraka often stay out of the front line, don't they?" she added. "Their men don't think any the less of them. You've got to start doing the same thing from time to time. Show them that you're their equal."  
  
The silence and stillness of the next few minutes interrupted only by Sam detaching more leeches and throwing them out, was almost deafening. She was quietly celebrating the fact that at least she'd got him to think – or brood, it didn't matter – about the changes in his lifestyle that he really did need to consider. She knew better than to nag him about resting his slowly worsening leg injury.  
  
"I'm not going to talk you out of this, am I?" he asked at length, gazing out of the doorway.  
  
"Nope." she came back. "On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia, to quote one of your favourites. But I'll not shy away from doing what we have to. I'll probably need all your support to pick me up again afterwards, but I won't be carried by the others. I've talked it through with Jen, and she feels the same way."  
  
He remained silent as her hands continued to work their magic, and eventually he felt the sharp sting of her retaliatory slap across his buttocks. Thinking that it was time to get up again, he started to move, only to find that she was pushing him down by sitting on his back. She reached forward over him to pull the canvas across the open doorway, and he suddenly realised that the agenda had changed drastically.  
  
"Sam?" he asked tentatively, trying to look round.  
  
"Stay still a moment, while I tell you something, Jack." she said quietly. "And don't interrupt."  
  
"What's up?" He sounded concerned.  
  
"You asked me the other night if I had any regrets about us ending up here."  
  
"And you said no. Changed your mind?"  
  
"No, quite the other way. Of course, nobody in their right mind would want to fight a guerrilla war in the jungle, as well as being outcasts from our own world." she stated. "But we're here because we're here, as the song goes. That aside, I've been giving a lot of thought about what we do next if we make it out of this in one piece."  
  
"And?"  
  
"Well, as you said, one of three things is likely. Dad will come back for us and deposit us anywhere we want to go, within reason. Or, the Prometheus will come to take us back to Earth, either to resume our careers or to jail, depending on who's in charge. Finally, no-one will come and we'll become natives."  
  
She paused, feeling the heat of the Andan summer penetrating through the thin walls of their shelter. A sheen of sweat covered them both, but they had grown used to that over the weeks that they had lived in this fetid environment. She moved off him and laid by his side, and he turned to face her. She reached for both of his hands with hers and held them to his chest, staring into his eyes. He waited, knowing that whatever was on her mind, it wouldn't be any easier for her if he said or did something inappropriate now.  
  
"I used to think that everything in my life could be carried out in sequence." she said softly. "Get qualifications, experience, promotions, and so on. Then I met you." She was quiet again, and he could almost see her recollections of the past few years rolling through her mind. She only resumed when he raised his eyebrow slightly.  
  
"You were mixing up everything in my mind, but you respected my wishes to 'keep it in the room'. Jack, I should never have asked you to do that, and you shouldn't have let me. I even thought I could box up a private life and not let it interfere with the career master plan. That's when I hurt you by going with Pete. I still thought I could get where I'd planned to be all along. Everything more or less still in place. Well, that all fell apart the minute you got involved with our mission here. Do you know, one of the Andan negotiators asked me if I had someone back at home, and I said straight away that he was in our military, and it wasn't for a moment or two that I realised I didn't have you any more. That's when I knew for certain that I'd taken the wrong path somewhere back down the line."  
  
"Sam, there's no need to explain anything." he said, letting go of her hand and reaching up to push back the stray hair that was plastered to her forehead. "I wake up at nights and see you there, and I just can't believe my good fortune. It's enough that you're still here with me."  
  
She had come to the essence of what she wanted to tell him. "I want more, Jack. But only if you do too."  
  
"Now what do you mean by that?"  
  
Another hesitation, and a deep breath. "I want to stop taking birth control measures, Jack. I've no idea if it'll work, and if nothing happens for a while, I want for us to see if we can qualify for adoption. Assuming that we're in one piece and not in jail, of course."  
  
"Of course." was all he could think of in reply.  
  
"Jack? Please tell me right now if that's not what you want. I can live with that, too. More than anything, I don't want to lose you again."  
  
He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, and then drew back. Her heart rate had increased palpably in expectation of a reply that she mightn't like.  
  
"On one condition." he said at last, and she raised her eyebrows. "That you give up all combat the instant you become aware that you're pregnant." She exhaled and grabbed him in a hug, and he responded likewise, but pushed her away slightly before he continued. "And you don't go in to take out the sentries tomorrow. No mother of my kids is going to make the step from combat-hardened veteran to cold-blooded assassin. One of us in the family is bad enough."  
  
"But....." she protested.  
  
"Sam." he cut her off. "I know what I'm talking about here. I've given all the reasons before, so I won't repeat. It takes a special kind of person to be an assassin and live with the consequences. I've had to judge people for their suitability for that role over the years, and you wouldn't pass the test. You're brave, and brilliant, and competent at almost everything you turn your hand to. But there's an inner *you* that I recognise that would never be able to handle the consequences, to be able to cover up the blackness of cold-blooded killing that can descend at any time, from months to years later. There's things in the past that I will never tell anyone about, not even you. Not because they're classified missions, but they're part of the personal hell I told you and Jen about before."  
  
He placed his hand gently on her cheek, staring back at her look of shock and disappointment. "Please don't do it, Sam. By all means, do what you're good at as part of the main force, but don't cross that fine line."  
  
She clung to him as though his life had never been so precious to her before. 'God, that's true!' she thought to herself as she kissed him passionately. Her feelings were a mixture of resentment at his insistence and despite her earlier determination, relief as well. She knew that Jen – who would steamroller Jeff into getting her own way – would be disappointed in her, and would see it as weakness. But at the deepest level, she trusted Jack's judgment implicitly and did not wholly disagree with his reasoning. And significantly, she could now see the way to lay the foundations of future deeper mutual trust and respect between them.  
  
"That means you stay behind with Klint and T'Nevaraka in the command post, right?" she asked. When no immediate answer came, she made to get up and walk out. However, he pulled her back to him before she had moved too far.  
  
"OK."  
  
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	23. Raiders of the Lost Cause

Chapter 23 – Raiders of the Lost Cause  
  
Without a doubt, this had been one of their more successful raids on an Andan SHB detainment camp, thought Sam as her rebel force silently herded their freed captives back to the agreed rendezvous area some forty chains distant. No fatalities on their own side and every internee freed. They hadn't all gone as well as this. The jungle was still and humid at night, and although they were trying to keep as quiet as possible, caution was frequently given up for the need to maintain speed away from the camp in case pursuing government forces would arrive on the scene quickly.  
  
The camp raid tactics they had developed over the last year were beginning to make a difference, and their own casualties had declined as a result. Pity the poor Andan soldiers on outpost lookout duties, who died as silently as they kept guard, victims of commando assault techniques taught by Jack to the most hard-nosed of their fighting men. Diversionary attacks on different parts of the camp carried out simultaneously confused the defenders, and if prisoners could be sprung during these moments, they were taken cleanly and quickly away, to be handed on to other rebel forces who would spirit them out of the district altogether.  
  
After the first few raids, some Andan guards had adopted the tactics of turning their weapons on prisoners when the camps were attacked. In response, the fury of rebels who found their comrades and relatives dead or dying knew few bounds, and they left behind only SHB-uniformed corpses at any site where atrocities were discovered. The average SHB conscript was often a nervous young man these days, who would surrender rather than fight if cornered.  
  
The rebels' chain of successes had catalysed a larger, more active resistance movement. The four Earth-born soldiers had gained a measure of fame and adoration on the one side, and of course notoriety and loathing on the other. Huge rewards were offered for their capture or death, and early on Jack had expressed his opinion that not a few on their own side might turn them in for that kind of return.  
  
Jen and Jeff had criticised him for not trusting the people they had grown so close to, and even Sam had thought that his judgment was a little harsh. But he had been the only one to watch dispassionately when Field Commander Klint had had two spies in their own ranks executed in front of the whole group. She had been wary of Jack for a while then, mostly because she realised that whatever depths of his being that she had peered into, a veritable unseen cavern lay underneath the level of her understanding. It had also been the beginning of her awareness of just how many of their own side not only respected his leadership, but were actually afraid of Jack. Letting him down carried a feeling of dread, multiplied by the telling of tales amongst their followers. He never issued direct threats, but his uncompromising will to survive and win had generated a cadre of die-hards who maintained order and discipline in the ranks – sometimes using methods that were none too kind nor gentle. But the bigger shock had come when Jen had told her an unsuspected truth about herself.  
  
"They're afraid of you too, Sam." she had replied after Sam had made some remark or other about a man who had been reluctant to linger in their presence.  
  
"Me? Why, what have I done?" Sam had uttered in astonishment.  
  
"You just seem to put out a subconscious message that you'd kill anyone who threatened him, at any cost at all to yourself." Jen had explained. "The same goes for him about you. You both do so many things in co-ordination without even realising that you've hardly spoken to each other at the time. I'll never get that close to Jeff." Later that night, Sam had stayed awake staring at Jack's sleeping form, trying to reconcile their burning desire to be kind, loving parents with the hard road they were following and the kind of people they had become. The dichotomy of witnessing his unfettered tenderness and care towards their comrades' children kept her faith, and she decided that whatever fate decreed, without a doubt she was bonded to him for life.  
  
Their year of trying to start a family had been fun but unproductive so far, though all-in-all, she wasn't unhappy about that and neither was Jack, thank goodness. Considering their precarious present and uncertain future concerning a welcome return to Earth, there had never been time to brood about the better life they could have wished for from the moment of their union. Raids, occasional hand-to-hand combat, flight, retreat, regrouping and planning were an all-consuming, stress-filled pastime: not a good way of life, surely, and a difficult arena for long-term thinking on a personal level.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Sam's musings came to an abrupt end when she checked the rudimentary GPS gauge strapped to her wrist, seeing that they were only a few chains from the meeting point with another rebel group who would escort the freed prisoners away. The four instruments that the Tau'ri possessed were their most treasured items, as they were their only real means of positional awareness in this vast jungle. Even the majority of the Andan rebels relied on the few natives of the district to guide them safely off the beaten tracks. The four small guiding satellites released into orbit by the Prometheus on arrival at the planet had been Jen Hailey's idea, and their instruments had been turned into practical reality by the daylight-powered battery re-charger engineered by Sam before they landed.  
  
After the usual cautious approach and exchange of passwords, they handed over their liberated comrades and their own wounded to another group better equipped to care for the sick and injured, who would spirit them sufficiently far away that the SHB forces would give up pursuit. Then they split into smaller groups themselves and set off by different routes to their own RV point, where the commanders would be anxiously awaiting their estimated dawn arrival.  
  
Another four hours of careful, silent progress through the endless forest cover and Sam was looking forward to Jack's ministrations in their tent- hut. He was always so relieved to see her come back in one piece after the sorties when he couldn't participate himself, that she eagerly anticipated the intimacy of their rituals of cleaning up and delousing. When she had first persuaded him to take on more of a leadership role rather than being a full-time front line soldier, he had hated it, frequently threatening to pull her out of combat after each of the first few missions. But she in turn had laughed, cajoled, seduced and threatened him into accepting his obvious responsibilities of command and was glad that he'd eventually succumbed – what did they say about who was behind great men? And his tactical and strategic skills had made a difference, too – the element of an off-world viewpoint to guide the rebels' deployment had thrown the SHB forces out of kilter.  
  
The challenge of the rebel base camp guard was expected and they again exchanged passwords and walked into the well-hidden collection of temporary dwellings. To her surprise, Sam saw that nearly all the stores and provisions had gone, and some of the tent-huts were being dismantled and folded away for transportation. She saw that her own was still standing and made her way over, peering in to discover Jack stowing away their belongings into back-packs.  
  
"Honey, I'm home!" she called in their time-honoured joke. "Jack, what's happening?"  
  
His look of relief at her return was obvious, but he didn't stop packing. "Big SHB force assembling to sweep the area for us." he replied. "Come in and take your clothes off. I'll get the wildlife off you before they start breaking the skin but we're leaving straight away."  
  
Without hesitation she entered, pulled the flap across the doorway and disrobed, dropping her combat gear at the entrance. Outside she could hear the sounds of similar activities in neighbouring tents. To save time she applied the ointment to the leeches that she could reach, while Jack simultaneously treated the rest. Sparing only the time for a quick embrace, he left and started to shake out her clothes outside. A collection of clothed and naked people were doing the same thing all around the camp, while others continued bustling around to stow all the gear that they would be taking. Once he was sure that each item of clothing was free of vermin, he placed it back inside, and Sam soon reappeared fully dressed again.  
  
"Take some water and dried lizard meat to eat on the way." he said, not stopping his work in clearing the site. She didn't hesitate either, and soon returned to assist him.  
  
"Where are we going?" she asked, kneeling down to help him roll up the tent canvas.  
  
"The main body is headed out of the jungle altogether to the hills about ten days walk north from here." he explained. "We'll disperse and only regroup when the hunt has died down a little."  
  
"The main body?" she asked, picking up straight away that there was more than mere flight planned for them.  
  
"We're taking Jen and Jeff and three others on a slight detour." he said, sweating profusely from his efforts of the last few hours. "We'll raid the main electricity generator plant that supplies the capital city. Use that collection of Multipliers that we've built up to create a feedback loop like you used before on the SHB building in Jobe, but I'm hoping on a big enough scale to burn out the equipment for a time. Do you think we can pull that off, Sam? If not, we'll just have to use the remaining C4 explosive to do some physical damage. They shouldn't be expecting it while they're chasing us out with such a big force."  
  
"I think so." she replied, her expression showing that her brain was engaged on the problem. They continued working for another thirty minutes until the last of the salvageable items had been stowed or taken away by the others.  
  
They left without ceremony or hesitation. Jack had long since stopped trying to act chivalrously towards his wife on these long forced marches: apart from the fact that he was already carrying around eighty kilos himself, she had insisted on not changing their conduct from SG-1 days when they were in the field together. The proper amount of concern, care and sometimes rough encouragement to keep up was shown to all equally, and she never complained. She was quite capable of dishing out field punishments herself to those who weren't trying hard enough.  
  
They generally preferred to travel through the jungle at night, not only because it was significantly cooler: frequently during the daylight hours on a signal from one lookout or another, they froze in position against tree trunks or in bushes, not looking up at the sky in case an Andan surveillance plane might pick out the paler skin of their faces. Once the all-clear came, they continued moving, but sometimes the enforced break was a couple of hours long. In these intervals they took turns to eat and sleep. Even so, Sam was exhausted – more so than usual – by the time they took their first long break that evening, especially after having had no sleep the night before. With just a motion of his hand, Jack conveyed to her that she should eat and rest, while he went about securing the guards for the first watch, checking to make sure that everyone was where they should be and would know what to do in the event of an alarm.  
  
When he returned, she had erected their small travel-tent in the dark and had already taken off and deloused her clothes. She silently helped him off with his, and together in the dark and silence, they cleaned each other by touch, just as all their comrades would be doing in their own pairings. Jungle warfare survival techniques were something that you did for each other irrespective of gender and relationships, but Jack knew that he'd lay waste anyone else who touched her in that way.  
  
Thinking that she would just want to sleep and knowing that absolute silence was a necessity, Jack lay back after massaging his aching knee for a while. He was surprised when he felt Sam roll across to embrace him, and he responded in kind. He felt her fingers massaging his brow, and her lips touch his. Knowing that this was neither the time nor the place for love- making, he contented himself with stroking her back in the spots that she adored. Soon, though, she took his hand gently in hers and slowly placed it flat across her stomach, holding it there with gentle pressure. With her lips almost touching his ear, he heard the faintest whisper of "Jack."  
  
He lay still for just a few seconds until an electric thrill coursed through his whole self. Looking suddenly round, even though he couldn't see anything in the total blackness, he felt her fervent embrace and hugged her in return. Her hot salty tears against his face produced a flood of his own, and he could sense her broad smile.  
  
"Oh, Sam." he mouthed, not quite making any sound, but she knew what he was saying anyway. Their silent mutual laughter started slowly but grew, and he found that he just couldn't stop holding her, nor she him.  
  
Later he placed the side of his head gently against her stomach and she held him there, the magic of their joint hope for the future holding them in a spell. Eventually they lay apart in the heat of the night with just fingers entwined, and dozed fitfully until the guard woke them an hour before dawn to start the next day's march.  
  
Leaning close to her ear, "Are you sure?" was all he whispered at first light when they were ready to set off, and she nodded briefly but with eyebrows raised, indicating that she thought so, but proof positive would be needed. The brief look of joy on his face brought forth one of her broadest, toothy grins and they felt sure that everyone who so much as glanced in their direction must immediately know their secret, but it wasn't so.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Five days later it was still their secret, and that was the way they wanted to keep it for now, even from Hailey and Grogan. They had reached the point where their small group was to leave the main thrust of the retreat – for a retreat it truly was, as they were being sought by an estimated force of over twenty thousand Andan SHB troops.  
  
Handing over to the others anything non-essential to their raid on the power plant, the four Tau'ri and three Andans set off for their three-day trek towards the capital. Their camouflaged combat clothes had been exchanged for plain workers' outfits and once more they became a band of itinerants looking for work, but avoiding actually finding it of course. The greatest weight in their packs was taken up with the assorted Multipliers that Sam and Jen would assemble to perform their destructive task, topped off with the remaining ammunition for their side-arms and Jack's powerful rifle. One Andan had all the C4 in his pack and joked about making an impact on people, which only his two native comrades found funny.  
  
In the event, it took a lot less time to reach the capital than they thought, thanks to a friendly driver of an electric cargo-waggon who saved them a whole day's walk. Instead of staying in the town itself, they hid in woods in the vicinity of the power generation plant until dark, spending the remaining daylight just observing the place through field glasses. They mapped out security posts, fences, gates and doors and quietly prepared for the raid that night.  
  
Jen was beginning to get suspicious that something was going on between Jack and his wife, and tried to eavesdrop when they sat aside from the others before departure, just murmuring to each other. But strain as she might, she could only catch occasional words and phrases.  
  
"Not after tonight, you won't....."  
  
"..... all right, really it will....."  
  
"..... not just us any more....."  
  
"..... out loud, Jack, it's....."  
  
"No!"  
  
"..... chauvinist pig......"  
  
'Hmm.' thought Jen. 'He hasn't been one of those for a long time. They wouldn't be together if it weren't for me. I'll get it out of him later.'  
  
"..... as a mule....."  
  
"Well, you married....."  
  
""Knock it off, old guys!" Jen stage whispered at them. "Save the Darby and Joan act for later, OK?"  
  
They both looked round at her, and she could quite clearly pick out their startled expressions in the moonlight. They knew she was right, and that distractions from the job in hand could have fatal consequences, and they sobered up quickly.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	24. Reversal

Chapter 24 – Reversal  
  
Assembling the collection of metal rods and their hotchpotch variety of subspace multipliers in sequence had been the easy part so far for Sam and Jen, even though it looked like a giant version of a child's metal puzzle to Jack. Easy because they were still outside the main generator building, and so far had escaped the attention of any guards. The two women worked without paying attention to their surroundings, knowing that the others would alert them to any interruptions soon enough.  
  
Since both moons had set early, they had been able to steal in by cutting a hole in the base of the wire fence without being observed in the darkness. The hole was not only big enough to permit their entry, but also gained them the source of conductive material to make sure that when the huge generator started to struggle with the sudden power drain that they would place upon it, the wire would soften and fuse itself both to the electricity distribution circuits and the metal building structures that were the grounding points.  
  
'That's the theory, anyway.' Sam mused as she completed the final joints, looking up to see that Jen had also finished her side of their metallic spider's web. The memory of the first time she had explained her idea of destroying a large generator like this flashed through her mind: of how Jack had murmured "Back EMF overload, eh?" before he quickly tried to put his confused look back into place. She smiled, remembering the slip in his apparent naivety but continued to focus on the job in hand. Their three Andan companions helped them to raise the trellis-like contraption to lean against the wall of the first building outside the main generator hall, below the heavy metal pylons that supported the huge insulators and cables.  
  
On the roof, Jack and Jeff each dangled a hemp rope, waiting for those below to attach the free wire bundles to be hauled up. They started pulling when tugs on the ropes signalled that the attachments had been completed, and soon had the ends of the wires in their hands. So many individual strands of fence wire clumped together made for a considerable weight, and it would take both of them to carry them up the pylon to complete the circuit. This was the riskiest part – avoiding making contact with the overhead power cables while they were still in close proximity to the grounding circuit, and Jack doubted that the thick leather gloves that they wore would make any practical contribution to personal safety if they did touch a live wire.  
  
Carefully they manhandled the ropes and wires into position, and Grogan leaned out as far as he could, throwing the rope cleanly over the power cables first time. Jack climbed round the lattice-work of the pylon to the opposite side, ducking under the huge glass insulator that crackled and hummed alarmingly at such close quarters. Swinging out as far as he dared, he just managed to snag the loose rope end and pull it back in towards him. He then pulled enough rope over the cables so that the free end would reach the ground when he threw it down. In the near-darkness illuminated only by distant lights in the windows of the main building, he saw the upturned faces of his companions and cast the rope down to them. Looking back across the pylon, he signalled to Jeff to start his descent, and checking one more time to ensure that a good pull on the rope would bring the metals into contact, he followed him down, first to the roof and then down the last rope to the ground.  
  
Grogan and his Andan friend Volkar took up the loose end and waited for the others to reach their pre-assigned positions to guard them against the inevitable outcry that would ensue. Seconds passed nervously for both of them, until they heard Jack's voice across the empty ground. At the sound of "Now!" they both ran away from the building on the opposite side to their makeshift apparatus, pulling the rope with them as hard as they could. Their eyes were shut in the expectation of the momentary brightness of the short circuit, while everyone else purposely looked in the opposite direction. Jeff and Volkar felt a slight jerk as the knot attaching the rope to the wires first made contact with the overhead cables, but even though everyone thought they knew what to expect, the sequence and magnitude of events took them by surprise.  
  
As the first metal-to-metal contact was made, a bright shower of yellow- white sparks suddenly showed their surroundings in stark contrast, like a giant flashbulb going off. The rope jerked out of their hands as the metal wires fused onto the power cables and they fell over, rolling forward and trying to run on to join their comrades. But they had hardly taken more than three or four steps when a huge flash burned its way instantaneously from the pylon, followed immediately by a blast wave knocking them over. Heavy chunks of glass showered down from where the insulators had broken apart, several hitting them and causing deep cuts and abrasions. They stumbled around until the other two Andans got up to grab hold of them and guide them to relative safety.  
  
Sam and Jen were anxiously waiting for the sign that would signal the success of their mission, and were rewarded just seconds later when a huge explosion resounded from within the main generator building. They looked up to see panels and windows being blown off, illuminated by a short-lived fireball from inside. As it died away, blackness descended and in the distance, the sky-glow caused by the lights of the capital city Reha suddenly disappeared. Secondary explosions from within the building continued, much lower in volume than the first detonation. Then the shouts of people running around and the unforgettable screams of the injured and dying penetrated as their hearing returned after the ringing in their ears subsided a little.  
  
They quickly retreated to the gap in the fence and ran back towards the nearby woods, half expecting to be discovered at any second, but no challenges came. They came to a rest briefly in a small clearing, where the first priority was to stop the bleeding from the cuts that Jeff and Volkar had sustained. Expertly-applied bandages and a cloth strip for a tourniquet on Jeff's arm took only moments to apply before they were ready to move on. This was the point at which the three Andans would separate and make their own way to re-join their distant comrades, and they exchanged silent hugs and handshakes with the four Tau'ri before quickly vanishing into the night. Jack led his group away, and with much lighter packs progress was easier than their journey here.  
  
They were familiar with this routine now after a raid – travel at night, stay silent, take turns leading, keep moving, keep moving, keep moving until daylight forced them to rest in the best hiding place they could find or improvise. Jen had just started her turn at point after the first thirty minutes' march when a distant noise brought them all to a halt. The shock of familiar but unexpected sounds threw them into confusion, causing Jack to call them together for a whispered conference.  
  
"Ideas?" said Jack curtly.  
  
"That's small arms fire!" exclaimed Jen as they huddled in a thicket. "How come?"  
  
"Probably the Andans using the weapons they imported from Earth last year." Sam added.  
  
"Possibly." replied Jack. "Jeff, how are you holding up? Can you keep going?"  
  
"No worries, Jack." Jeff grunted, ignoring the warm feeling of slow trickles of blood from a couple of his bandages. He'd suffered worse in the past year and wasn't unduly worried. "I'll let you know if I can't keep up."  
  
"All right. Stay close." said Jack as he signalled Jen to take the lead again. "Jeff, you stay in 2 or 3, right?"  
  
"'kay, Jack." he replied, stepping out after Jen.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Another twenty minutes found them making slow progress through thick, scrubby terrain in a large clearing. Without too much tall tree cover, it was a vulnerable position and Jack hoped to make it across into the forest as quickly as possible. He knew that the occasional low sounds from Jeff meant that he was suffering more than he had let on, but they had no choice but to continue their flight for now.  
  
At the sudden sound of a loudly-shouted challenge, all four dropped to the ground instantaneously and rolled or crawled short distances from their positions, aiming their nine millimetre pistols ahead of them.  
  
"We have you surrounded!" cried a voice. "Stand up and throw down your weapons, or we will fire! We have you fully in view!" Each of the four comrades was surprised to see small red dots of light playing over their arms and the ground in front of them.  
  
Jack immediately recognised their situation for what it was, and cried, "Don't shoot! We're standing up now!", much to the shock of his companions. They heard the rustle of him rising, and the sound of his weapon being discarded into the grass. Slowly, they followed suit.  
  
"Are you from Chicago, soldier?" called Jack.  
  
"What the hell?" they heard in response. "Colonel O'Neill, is that you?" The red dots of the laser target markers playing over each of them wavered but didn't go away. They saw the vague outlines of men surrounding them, with US-style combat helmets just visible against the star-glow.  
  
"On the button, soldier." called Jack. "To whom do I have the honour?"  
  
"Corporal Johanovic, SGC, Sir!" came the reply. After a short hesitation, he continued, "Sir, do not take this personally, but we have orders to detain all persons found in the vicinity of the Reha power plant. I have to take you back to the Prometheus. You and your men must assume the position and be restrained."  
  
"Understood, Corporal." said Jack. "But we have a wounded man here. Please attend to him. You have my word: no tricks from us." He raised his hands in the air and stood still, knowing that the other three would comply as they were all clearly visible in the night-vision goggles that the SGC troops were wearing. The men moved in to secure their hands and frisk them for weapons. As the plastic bands were tightened, torches lit up the captives and Jen was shocked to see the wet red stains over much of Jeff's tunic.  
  
"Corporal!" cried one of the soldiers, this time in an unmistakeable Texan drawl. "It's Carter, Hailey and Grogan!"  
  
"That's *Captain* Hailey to you, soldier!" said Jen. "Cut Lieutenant Grogan and me loose so I can stop the bleeding."  
  
"No, ma'am." he replied. "We have our orders."  
  
"Corporal?" asked Jack gently.  
  
"Sir, no need to worry. The ship will be here momentarily and he can be treated on board."  
  
They stood in a silence interrupted only by the unit leader reporting their capture over his headset and calling for the arrival of the craft. Soon a huge dark shape blotting out some of the stars signalled that the Prometheus was somewhere overhead, and the four prisoners were herded together by their guards. The white light and noises characteristic of a Goa'uld Ring Transporter enveloped them, and they found themselves staring at another set of guns inside the docking bay of the Earth's flagship.  
  
"Well, well, well." drawled a familiar voice. "I didn't realise we were here to collect the trash. Bring them this way."  
  
"Edwards!" exclaimed Jack. "We heard firing in the forest. What happened?"  
  
"Nothing to concern yourself with, O'Neill." replied the Colonel. "Three dead bad guys, is all. One of our men down. Nothing to get steamed up about."  
  
Grogan stiffened and glared at him, in spite of the dizziness he was beginning to experience. Edwards returned his glare, but wasn't expecting the kind of hatred radiating from someone he still remembered as only an inept lieutenant. "They were better men than you'll ever be." said Jeff through clenched teeth.  
  
Edwards reached forward and gripped Grogan's tunic, and guns were raised again as Jeff's three friends reacted sharply.  
  
"What the hell's going on here?" thundered a voice from the doorway. "Colonel! Release that man now. You – get him to the infirmary!" he directed at the nearest soldier.  
  
They looked round to see *Colonel* Paul Davis – evidenced by his insignia – glaring at them, especially at Edwards. "Colonel O'Neill, Major, Captain, Lieutenant: it's good to see you all again, but you understand that we must keep you in custody pending clarification of this situation. We are under orders to assist the Andan government in holding off rebel forces."  
  
"So, Earth changed sides again." said Sam. "When did that happen?"  
  
"I'll be happy to explain later when you've had a chance to clean up and get fed." replied Davis. "For now, you'll forgive me, but it's clear that you've been living like natives for some time now. The atmosphere in here is, shall we say, a little *ripe*." Turning to someone behind him, he continued. "Release them in the empty quarters on 'B' deck, but post guards at the ends of the corridors." Turning back, he said, "I hope you understand, Jack."  
  
"Whatever." Jack replied softly, moving forward to their new 'home'. "Just keep that goon away from us." he added, nodding at Edwards, who stared back his contempt.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Their Spartan quarters were just as they remembered from the outward journey over eighteen months previously. After taking turns in the only shower cabin – although 'shower' was hardly an adequate description for the standing sponge-baths that were all they could take with the limited water supplies on board, even with the most efficient of recycling systems – they waited until Jeff had returned from the doctor's ministrations before discussing their situation.  
  
"Assume we are being monitored." said Jack, reluctantly taking another forkful of the rations that they had been given. They were sitting on the beds and floor of Jeff and Jen's cabin. He grimaced at what was now for him the strange taste of Earth food. "Did we really eat this much salt, sugar and fat before, or did the SGC buy sole rights to the Atkins Diet?"  
  
"I guess we must have." replied Sam, abandoning the rest of her plateful of brown and green coloured mush. "The soap and deodorant smells strange as well. The herbal tea's good, though."  
  
"What?" said Grogan in surprise, suddenly aware that the other three were suspiciously watching him wolf down the contents of his plate.  
  
"OK, here's the deal." said Jack. "We came out here under General Hammond's orders to assist the Andan rebels. Now the Prometheus is helping the Government again, and we should assume for the time being that we are Prisoners of War, despite the fact that we were still acting under those old orders."  
  
"Which tells us that the NID probably has control of the Stargate Program." added Jen. "Shit!"  
  
"Which in turn tells us that either we'll be handed over to the SHB...." said Sam.  
  
"And we'll be in front of a firing squad by lunchtime." Jen responded.  
  
"Or taken back to Earth to have our 'situation' defined and acted upon." Sam replied.  
  
"Which means Leavenworth, freedom or return to the SHB?" Jen surmised. "Better odds for survival, anyway. Only one in three chance of the firing squad!"  
  
Jack was thinking of a fourth option, and although he was careful not to display any evidence of it, Sam caught the faintest twitch in the corner of his eye and gave him that fleeting glance that communicated that she was on the same wavelength. Fortunately neither Jeff nor Jen were aware of this almost subliminal exchange.  
  
"I trust Davis more than Edwards." said Jack. "Edwards is a small-minded creep who'll manipulate a situation for personal revenge." He felt sure that his words were being listened to elsewhere in the ship and relished the opportunity to dig at his adversary. "Anyway, time enough to get some rest. Coming, Mrs. O'Neill?" he added as he rose stiffly from the floor.  
  
"Yes, dear." she added, rising steadily herself. But the extra care she had started to inadvertently take as a result of her condition sent a female signal to Jen, one that would be recognised only by another woman. She locked eyes momentarily with her junior and in that instant she knew that Jen knew her innermost secret. The faintest shake of Sam's head kept Jen's grin to a brief polite smile, and trust was established without either of the men being aware of it.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	25. Deeper Still

Chapter 25 – Deeper Still  
  
Twenty-five degrees Celsius set as the on-board standard temperature was not yet comfortable for people who had just been lifted from eighteen months exposure to the Andan climate, and particularly not the four who had spent nearly all that time in the jungle, where the range had rarely deviated outside thirty to fifty degrees. On their first night in captivity – for that was what it was – the O'Neill's clung to each other for warmth in the single bunk bed, dozing fitfully as unfamiliar noises and odours from the Prometheus assaulted their senses, repeatedly waking each other as they inadvertently stirred. Eventually they gave up trying to sleep and she lay spooned against him, holding his hand in place across her stomach, not wanting to lose the greater intimacy of his touch and the slowly growing glow of wonder at her condition.  
  
Sam's active mind rolled over a long, random succession of silent statements and discoveries about her rapidly-changing life.  
  
'It's not about me being willing to die for him any more, it's about living for the two of them.'  
  
'He'll be unstoppable about protecting *us*. He won't care about himself when he's like that and I've got to stop him going too far. I won't live without him now.'  
  
'Wonder how long it'll take to stop feeling cold? I'll withdraw his privileges if he warms up his hands on me like that too often. He's hot enough now though. We could get used to this.'  
  
'It's a girl, I'm sure of that. But even if it isn't, Jack won't mind. Hell, I won't either. I love it when he holds me like this.'  
  
'I think I know now how he must have felt about losing Charlie. No..... Stupid. No, I don't. She's not even grown inside me yet and already I couldn't bear it if..... No, stop thinking that. God, Jack. How did you face it?'  
  
'Got to be strong. Strong as we've ever been since I've known him. We'll get out of this; I know he's weighing up the odds. Take Jen and Jeff with us if we can.'  
  
'I love him. I mean, *really* love him. It's not like it was with Jonas, with Pete. Pete..... Oh, God, why did I throw Pete in Jack's face like that? What would I have felt like if he'd done it to me? Like shit, that's what. I'll never lose him again, not that way. Got to find a way to tell him somehow. 'Sorry' doesn't cut it. Show him he's got me for life. My life..... His life..... Her life. Long life. Got to get out of here, live our lives away from all this killing.'  
  
'Time to stop fighting, start living. Away from here, away from Earth, too. Maybe, God damn it. No friends left there, 'cept Cassie and Daniel. And Mark. Been too busy to miss them, until now. Now I do.'  
  
'Wonder when they fitted Transporter Rings to the ship? Gotta be an improvement.'  
  
'I'll bet his butt's freezing. If I just reach round..... Yup! It's freezing, right enough. Oh! Shouldn't have done that. The rest of him's warm enough. Not now, Jack. Maybe I should stop wriggling around. Yeah, that's better. Down, boy.'  
  
'Catherine? Alexandra? Maybe. Elizabeth? Janet? That's a good thought. Hold that. Grace..... Oh God, Grace. On this ship, too. When I thought Jack told me he would always be there for me. The real one was, too. Despite what I did afterwards. It's no good; I've got to tell him.....'  
  
"Jack?" she whispered, turning her head slightly to the side so that he at least could see her lips move in the dim light. "I just want you to know....."  
  
"Grace is good." he murmured in her ear. She tensed in surprise.  
  
"Did I say that out loud?" she asked softly.  
  
"Not sure." he continued almost inaudibly, and she felt the goose bumps march across her back at the touch of his lips on her ear. "Seems like a good idea, though. Grace O'Neill. Got a ring to it, hasn't it?"  
  
"Jack?"  
  
"Grace Roxanne O'Neill."  
  
"Grace *Janet* O'Neill."  
  
"Better."  
  
"Jack?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Your butt's freezing."  
  
"Tell me about it."  
  
"Jack?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"How soon into pregnancy do the cravings start?"  
  
"I don't know. Sarah never got them with Charlie. Why? What do you want?"  
  
"Lizard meat and red-fruit. Like we have at the Quarter-Day feasts."  
  
"Try my tunic pocket. There's some pemmy and fruit in there, unless they took it away."  
  
"It's here. You're a life-saver. Want some?"  
  
"Surprisingly, no, not at the moment. Settle down, you're letting the cold air in."  
  
"Jack?"  
  
"What now?"  
  
"I'll never leave you. Promise."  
  
"Good to know."  
  
"Jack?"  
  
"Yes, my little omnivore?"  
  
"I don't mind if it's a boy."  
  
"Me neither."  
  
"But it *is* a girl."  
  
"Suits me."  
  
"Jack?"  
  
"Still here."  
  
"We get out together, or not at all, OK?"  
  
"We'll see."  
  
"Jack!"  
  
"You know me better than to lie to you, Sam. You and Grace will be safe, I promise. And just hold the thought that I don't want to miss out on a moment of our lives together. But I'll do whatever it takes, you know that."  
  
"I love you."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Jack?"  
  
"Sam?"  
  
"My front's cold now."  
  
"I can fix that little problem. C'mere."  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Colonel Davis, Captain of the Prometheus, was done arguing with his fellow officer.  
  
"The decision is made, Edwards! You exceeded your authority in notifying the Andans that we had them on board and have jeopardised our mission objectives. Now recall the last of your men from the surface. We will proceed with phase two immediately they are on board. Dismissed!"  
  
"Yes, *Sir*!" Edwards retorted, in just the right voice to convey both military discipline and his underlying contempt for a man he considered had no right to have appeared almost 'out-of-the-blue' from the Pentagon and taken a position that he himself might have contended. He turned smartly and left the cabin. 'Take your time, boy.' he thought as he strode down the corridor. 'It'll come right enough, when that asshole trips up.'  
  
Davis watched the empty doorway whence his adversary – for that was how he was beginning to think of Edwards – had exited. He sat still for a minute, and reaching a decision, got up and set out for 'B' Deck and the erstwhile prisoners' quarters. On reaching the entry hatch, he dismissed the guard and entered the first store-room to find the four fugitives sitting around an upturned box indulging in the traditional military pastime of five-card stud. Although he had organised the heat to be turned up in this area by a few degrees, he was surprised to see them all wearing coats over their BDU's. The deep bronze colour of all their faces was matched only by their fingers protruding from the black hand-warmers they were all using. On seeing the captain, they made to get up but he gestured for them to remain seated. To their amazement, Davis drew up another box and sat on it.  
  
"Who's winning?" he asked casually.  
  
"Hailey, of course!" said Jack. "She's just taken my next 26 days of R and R as well as our accumulated back-pay. I reckon she was born with that poker face." The winner stuck her tongue out at him in retaliation. They put down the cards and listened.  
  
"I've decided to take you back to Earth and let Washington work out what's to happen." said Davis. "And don't look at me like that, Colonel O'Neill. You know I can't let you go. But on the other hand, I am currently refusing the Andan Government permission to come on board and take you all away."  
  
"How did they know we were here?" asked Jack.  
  
"Edwards told them. Without my permission, I might add." said Davis. "I know what they would do to you, and I won't have that happen."  
  
"Thanks for that." replied Jack, and the others added their support.  
  
"But here's the problem." Davis continued. "There's a good chance that you'll be returned here anyway by the folks back home. The SGC isn't the way it used to be. It's more secretive, more aggressive in its dealings with other worlds, more acquisitive and more tightly under the control of Washington than it's ever been."  
  
"What, you mean The President....." Sam started to say.  
  
"The President has very little involvement in, or control over the SGC. The people you saw taking over when you left are now firmly in the driving seat. The NID has manoeuvred The White House and Senate in such a way that they cannot intervene to change the chain of command without publicly revealing the whole program to the world, which they aren't ready to do – yet."  
  
"So why did you take on this position?" asked Jack.  
  
"I should sit in The Pentagon and watch the goons take it all unopposed?" Davis said vehemently. "I'm not going to start a mutiny, Jack. But in some cases – like this one – I may be able to make a difference. Wait for the right moment."  
  
"So how are you going to make a difference if we get sent straight back to an Andan firing squad?" said Jack.  
  
Davis hesitated for a moment, knowing that he was about to go down a one- way street concerning his own career as much as anything that these four would face. He looked at each of them in turn. "We have orders to lift the Andan Stargate from the sea bed and take it back to Earth for *refurbishment* before returning it here."  
  
"Except that mending it might take a whole lot longer than any Andan would reckon, right?" said Sam, her eyebrows raised.  
  
"It would, let's say, remove a possibility that the Andans might discover how you sabotaged their Gate with their own Multipliers and be in a position to apply the technique to other worlds, yes." Davis explained.  
  
"Do they know you're taking it?" asked Jen.  
  
"Not exactly." said Davis. "We've never let on that we know where it is, and as far as they are concerned we're going to search for it starting now. Washington still wants to trade weapons for Multipliers, even if the transport has to be made by ship instead of Gate travel."  
  
"So why are you telling us all this?" Jack interjected.  
  
Again Davis hesitated. "It's only logical to test that it's in some sort of working order before we transport it all the way back. Be a waste to cart scrap metal around the Universe."  
  
"And..... We might be invited to be present when it's *tested*?" Sam asked hesitantly.  
  
"Be a pity to waste the talents of two of the world's foremost experts." replied Davis in an even voice. The underlying implications were quite clear to them.  
  
"How are you going to raise the Gate?" was Jeff's first contribution to the developing conversation.  
  
"There's a two-man deep sea submersible in the hold and a remote undersea robot. We can hover for hours over the area if necessary: we'll survey the site with the robot and use the sub to attach cables to lift it." Davis explained. "Then if we recover it successfully we can take it to dry land and test it by manual dialling with power input from the Prometheus."  
  
"I think we can help with that, don't you, Sam?" said Jen, still wearing a neutral expression.  
  
"Yeah sure you betcha." Sam added, unconscious of her husband's quiet smirk.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
No-one except Edwards had objected when the four were given freedom of the ship. The O'Neill's were still SGC heroes, and Hailey and Grogan respected colleagues to most of the crew, and their offers of help in the routine on- board tasks, or at least promises to keep out of the way, were readily accepted. As far as the crew was concerned, their previous mission to Andar had been terminated by the arrival of the Prometheus and a new one had superseded it. It was of little concern that the Andans were still fighting a civil war: the two sides were indistinguishable to them.  
  
For three days they had hovered only a few metres above the surface of the sea. Although they knew the location of the Gate in the sub-sea trench, getting the robot to it was a difficult operation, thwarted by strong currents and low visibility as a result of the sand being stirred. Each trip between the surface and the deep took over an hour to accomplish.  
  
The manned submersible had made several dives in tandem with the robot, and Jen had lost no time in grilling the crews on what they could see down there.  
  
"Not much of anything below one thousand metres." the sub driver had told her. "I think we're in the general area of the Gate but it's probably half- submerged."  
  
"Why not rig up a pulse generator to a sub-space coil from the Prometheus' hyperdrive?" Jen had suggested. "Look for the echo in the S-Band oscilloscope. The Gate's a sub-space generator itself: it should light up like a giant circle."  
  
And of course, it worked beautifully, and Jen's standing with the crew went up another notch. The last dive of the day was in the final recovery phase before they would ascend to orbit before returning for the next day's planned activities, when they would attempt to attach the lift cable to the Gate. Sam was a little surprised when Jack grabbed her playfully while she was watching proceedings from the rear of the bridge, and pulled her to their room on 'B' Deck. His flirting stopped the instant he closed the door behind them, as he turned her round and embraced her, kissing her neck and then her ear.  
  
"I think Edwards knows that something's going down soon." he whispered closely in her ear. "He's watching like a hawk and it doesn't take a genius to know we won't go like lambs to the slaughter."  
  
"Jack! You're insatiable!" she said loudly for the benefit of anyone who might be eavesdropping. But she murmured back "So what do we do?"  
  
"I'll write it down so we can pass it to the other two." he whispered back, unzipping her coat so that the sound would carry to any microphone. And so, under the cover of faked grunts, groans and rustling of clothing from both of them, he started to scribble, letting her take over the writing when she had something to contribute.  
  
Sam smiled wryly at the completed page. "Yes, Jack, yes!" she cried out loud, and she pocketed the paper to give to Jen later. But her mood was black, as black as she had known since they had first arrived on this planet.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Overpowering the three-man 'night watch' on the bridge had been easy once Sam had picked the lock of the ship's armoury and they had extracted a couple of zat guns. Sam still knew her way round the ship's controls and locked down all hatches around the ship, effectively sealing the rest of the crew wherever they were quartered.  
  
She then expertly de-orbited the ship and resumed station fifteen minutes later above the site of the sunken Stargate, engaging the autopilot to hold them in position. The four then made their way down to the cargo bay where the undersea vehicles were waiting, fully recharged for their next journeys. Jack and Jeff manhandled the smaller robot to its launch position over a hatch and attached the umbilicals. In the background, the sounds of hammering and scraping made by the rest of the crew trying to escape from their sealed areas seemed to be getting louder, and they knew that time would be limited.  
  
Each couple had had their almost-silent arguments during the night, and it was now reluctantly accepted by all that this was their only chance of a future. But none was happy about the fact that only Sam and Jen would be getting away now, relying on one hell of a lot of good fortune to be reunited with their loved ones at a later – hopefully not too much later – date. And even the women's escape was risky. No-one was happy, and no-one could think of any alternative, so they didn't hesitate except for brief hugs when Jack and Jeff helped their partners into the mini-submarine and sealed the hatch.  
  
Jeff went back to the bridge to make sure it remained secure long enough for them to complete their task. Jack immediately turned to the robot control station at the side of the cargo bay and initiated the launch sequence, seeing to his satisfaction the hatch doors open and the umbilical cables running out freely as the small craft plunged into the water only two metres below. He set it for maximum rate of descent, steering unerringly towards the circular target image visible in the monitor. The robot could climb or descend in only ten minutes, much faster than the pedestrian pace of the mini-sub.  
  
Jack had been watching the operators closely for several days, and his own piloting skills enabled him to quickly pick up the 'feel' of steering the robot through the water. In what seemed like no time, he was watching the camera image of the Gate peer through murky water in the spotlights, and he brought the craft to a halt over one particular marking on the annulus. After a few hesitant errors, he was able to get the robot's arm to scrape away the dirt to reveal clean metal. He then switched to the camera mounted on the robot's arm and turned it round to look back at the robot itself. Manoeuvring gently, he detached an electric cable from the robot and just minutes later was satisfied that he had clamped it securely to the ancient metal.  
  
Looking across the cargo bay to see two anxious faces in the observation port of the mini-sub, he gave a brief 'thumbs-up' and flicked on the power switch. No fuses blew, so he was as sure as he could be that some current was flowing into the Gate ring. Every step of what they were doing had to work in order for them to succeed in what now seemed like a lunatic's plan.  
  
Jack then manipulated the controls deftly for the next few minutes, each time anchoring the robot to one part of the ring and using the arm to move the chevrons into alignment. He kept swimming the little vehicle up to check that each one had illuminated correctly, and finally he was working on the seventh and last. In the background, he could hear crashes as an inner door was finally broken open by some of the trapped Prometheus' crew, and he knew he only had moments left.  
  
The robot camera gave a brief glimpse of a mighty eruption before cutting out altogether, and Jack knew that the wormhole he had just generated would be sending a mighty up-current from the sea bed. But just as Sam had predicted, this would soon be reversed as thousands and then million of tonnes of water poured downwards into the open Stargate, to be deposited on what he fervently hoped was a suitable planet where the mini-sub might land without too much damage to itself and especially not its occupants.  
  
The robot could not survive in such close proximity to the Gate when it was activated, and so without a view of the scene on the sea bed, he had to trust that his next action would be saving Sam and Jen's lives and not ending them. As another crash from outside the cargo bay counted down his last few minutes of freedom, Jack moved across the room and without hesitation, hit the start button for the Transporter Rings. With their characteristic flash of white light, they enveloped the mini-sub and a second later it had vanished from view. He prayed that Sam's calculations had been correct, and that the craft would be deposited down in the sea around two hundred metres above the open Gate, where the down-current of water leaving the planet would swiftly carry it through without impacting the sides, without a hull breach, without malfunction to the life-support system.  
  
As he waited for his imminent capture, Jack prayed fervently that the people who mattered most to him in the Universe, both living and yet-to- live, would be safe and free. It would be a bonus if he ever got see them again, but he doubted the chances of that happening.  
  
Up on the bridge, Jeff Grogan felt exactly the same.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	26. Enough

Chapter 26 – Enough  
  
Patience is a virtue. Only the truly virtuous have perfected the art, and so for Samantha O'Neill, the breaking point had been reached with the news from Earth. Until now, she had been the one restraining Jen Hailey from her worst excesses of venomous insults directed at their Jaffa hosts and even occasional bouts of wanton violence towards inanimate objects. Jen wanted to go get Jeff Grogan just as much as Sam wanted her husband back, but the Jaffa had been quite obstinate about refusing to antagonise the Tau'ri SGC in a scheme such as this. Even Teal'c had reluctantly accepted that he could not cross the line drawn by their ruling elite, despite his suggestions, threats, diplomacy, pleading and even willingness to desert the cause in pursuit of O'Neill's retrieval. Sam had talked him out of the last course of action more than once, but even that restraint had just disappeared.  
  
She took off the sling that carried her broken arm and threw it aside, revealing the Chulak version of a plaster cast on her left forearm, the legacy of their almost explosive trip through the wormhole formed on the Andan seabed. She and Jen had anticipated that their short journey in the mini-submarine would be rough and had strapped themselves in as best they could, but the violence with which it had been flung through the Stargate and the velocity it had acquired as it was carried in the torrent of sea water had been their undoing. The craft had spun and tumbled suddenly and unexpectedly as soon as the blast of water had been freed from its sub- space restraints, and at the onset of turbulence as it passed through the destination Gate on Abydos, it had descended to the desert sand where it had crashed end-over-end, pushed along by the force of water. The last moments of awareness had been filled with disorientation, painful impacts as their limbs flailed around, sounds of breaking metal and glass, and in Sam's case, an overwhelming surge of desire to survive for the sake of her unborn child before she had blacked out.  
  
Jen had emerged in marginally the better condition when they had eventually regained consciousness and had smashed her way through the remains of the observation port to drag Sam clear. The wormhole had long since closed after thirty eight minutes of disgorging huge volumes of the Andan ocean into the heart of the Abydonian desert, and the sand beneath them was still moist but now firming up again after being turned temporarily to mud. Jen calculated that they must have been out for over three hours. Both were bleeding from many cuts, and were covered in red welts and the distinctive purple-yellow colourations indicating the onset of extensive bruising. Sam's first conscious act had been to feel her stomach, but the pain that had shot through her when she had tried to move her left arm told her immediately that it was broken. Jen had calmed her down as much as possible and had gone about applying makeshift bandages from torn clothing, using Sam's one-handed assistance to apply them to herself in places awkward to reach.  
  
Looking around after taking care of the most urgent first aid needs, they had seen the Abydos Stargate a few hundred metres distant beyond the wreckage of the mini-submarine. At least they felt warm again in the heat of the desert sun, and with difficulty they stood up and supported each other on their stumbling journey back to the portal. Relief on seeing that the DHD had survived the flood had spurred them on, and moments later they were stepping uncertainly through the Gate on Chulak, reasonably sure that they would be cared for by the free Jaffa and hoping that Teal'c would come to them sooner or later.  
  
But three months, counting by Earth methods had passed since their arrival and Teal'c had only learned of their plight some six weeks previously. He had returned from yet another mission to scout for potential recruits to the Jaffa cause, but on seeing Sam and Jen had immediately appointed himself to be their protector and co-conspirator in the attempt to be reunited with their partners. No Jaffa, ruler or otherwise, had dared to argue with him.  
  
However, Teal'c's new-found zeal had got him very little in the way of practical support for the two Earth women. His own visit to the SGC to ask after O'Neill and Grogan had met with a blunt "No longer any of your business, Sir." from General Bauer, and his requested meeting with Daniel Jackson had been a brief affair held in the presence of armed guards and civilian-suited security men, who had frequently interrupted the few words of dialogue between the two close friends with phrases such as "That's a matter for National Security, Doctor Jackson, and discussion is not permitted beyond the scope of what we authorise." The one that had infuriated both men the most had been "That is not a subject you are permitted to discuss with aliens, Doctor." The NID man who had spoken the words had added nothing more to the conversation after withering under Teal'c's subsequent stare, but their conversation was clearly at an end. Teal'c had recognised Daniel's despair in their farewell, but knew that further diplomatic attempts would be futile.  
  
The last three weeks on Chulak had been spent in frustration at the impasse. All they knew was that Jack and Jeff were most likely being held prisoner somewhere on Earth, or – perish the thought! – had been returned to Andar and certain execution by the SHB. But now today, a Jaffa had strolled through the first wormhole of the day back to his beloved home world, and immediately sought out Sam in the house where she and Jen were quartered. After a brief introduction, he handed her a plastic-like pouch on which was written 'S. O'Neill' in someone's own handwriting, bowed and left.  
  
Puzzled, she returned to sit in the sun on the other side of the house and opened the packet. Inside was a folded sheaf of papers which she opened and started to read. The script wasn't very legible and she guessed that the sender was not used to writing letters.  
  
'Ma'am, I hope you will remember me.' it began.  
  
'I'm Corporal Johanovic from Chicago, and it was me that led the squad that caught you all on Andar. If I'd knowed then what I do now, I would have let you all go right enough, so I would. I'll explain as best I can, but I ain't educated in these things, and it's probable that I won't ever make sergeant. I certainly won't make it if they catch me doing this but I can't stand by any more and see what they are doing as I feel I am responsible seeing as I caught you.'  
  
Sam recognised the man's obvious sincerity straight away and continued reading, her heart in her mouth.  
  
'Colonel O'Neill has been let go from the SGC holding cells where they kept him and Lt. Grogan for some weeks now. The Lt. has gone for trial in a special NID security court on charges of insubordination and cowardice in the face of the enemy and I don't give much for his chances. I heard some of the details from my pal who got to do guard duty some of the time they was in there. The NID men wouldn't let anyone else near them. The SGC is crawling with NID these days. My pal said they kept the temperature in the cells at less than 40 degrees F and the Col. and the Lt. was shivering most of the time, seeing as how you had all been on a hot planet before that. The Col. got real sick and spent a few days in the infirmary but they put him back in the cells but this time the temperature was put up to 45. They kept asking them questions day after day about what had gone down on Andar when you was fighting with the resistance there, but nobody talked even when they said they would let them go and not send them back to the Andans.  
  
My pal said that Senator Kinsey was there a couple of times and he peeked through the grill when he heard scuffles and shouts. He said he saw the two NID men holding the Col. in a chair and Kinsey was kicking his bad knee. The Col. spat in his face when Kinsey got down to say something to him but then my friend had to duck out of the way quick when Kinsey left all red faced. He heard that the Lt. got worked over too just like the Col.'  
  
Sam clutched the paper to her chest and her vision swam for a few moments. Shocked and angry, she straightened the paper again and continued.  
  
'Then one day they was gone and I got the low down from my pal when I saw him off duty the next week. Lt. Grogan was told he'd be serving time in Leavenworth if they found him guilty. That's a joke, well no laughing matter Ma'am, as if he'd ever be found innocent if the NID was making their own rules. By the time you read this I guess he's there now.  
  
Col. O'Neill was let go on indefinite leave. But here's the thing. My pal said one of the NID guys was real sick about what was happening and he tried to talk to him. The NID guy said that they knowed that the Col. was popular with the guys at the SGC and they knowed too that us military ain't too happy with the way things are run round here now. Kind of like we are the hatchet men for the Mob at times, you know? Anyway, it ain't why we all joined up, I know that. Anyhow they figure that banging up the Col. in the slammer ain't going to win no friends in the SGC, and they ain't going to send him back to Andar on account of that sends the wrong message to the troops as well. So they come up with this bright idea that they can let him go into the outside world and never let him back in the Mountain.  
  
Sounds OK, doesn't it? But the guy said the Col. ain't going to be given no quarter on the outside. Where he goes, they will keep an eye on him and he'll get the once over from the local cops wherever he is and he'll be pulled on any and every offence that they can dream up. He won't get no credit any more and they froze his back pay since you all went away. I guess Ma'am that they probably froze yours too seeing how you married him just before you left. If he speaks to the papers about anything they'll have him back inside stat on account of national security. The Col. ain't in the best of health by all accounts. He limps a lot and he can't get no medical insurance either thanks to the NID.  
  
A lot of the guys here don't like what's going on, not with the Col. nor anything else these days. Gen. Hammond was a fair man and a good leader. Gen. Bauer just does what the NID says and their goons are everywhere ordering us about. Some of us ain't far off a mutiny, but we know we won't succeed without someone like the Col. or you to be on our side.  
  
I wrote this all down and will keep it with me until I find someone like a Tok'ra or a Jaffa who will maybe know where you are and pass it on to you. Ma'am I sure am sorry that I found you all on that planet and I hope you know that we was just following our orders. Find a way to rescue the Col. and the Lt. please Ma'am. Then I can start to sleep nights again.  
  
Petr Johanovic, Corporal.  
  
14th May 2006.'  
  
Sam sat for some minutes, shaken to the core and trembling with rage. Enough was enough.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	27. In Pursuit

Chapter 27 – In Pursuit  
  
"Oh, for crying out loud!" came Jen's exasperated voice. "They're guys, aren't they? Their brains are in their balls most of the time, just like on every planet we've been to."  
  
Sam's wry smile at Teal'c's face *almost* cracking into a readable expression only encouraged Hailey further.  
  
"Look, don't tell me you've not put out that kind of message when you wanted something, Sam." she continued. "I've seen you manipulating Jack often enough this last year." She paused for a moment, reflecting. "OK, bad example maybe. He's not the pushover that Jeff is...... Used to be....." Her voice trailed away as emotion threatened to boil up inside her again.  
  
After calming herself, Sam had shown Corporal Johanovic's letter to them both the day before, causing Jen to shout obscenities and generally rage before she suddenly broke down and wept in Sam's arms. Teal'c, on reading the news had simply abandoned any further plans he had concerning his fellow Jaffa and had vowed his unwavering support to the two women in their obvious task. After a due period of consolation and restraining Hailey in particular from acting illogically or unwisely (his terms), they had quietly discussed possible actions to release the men who had given everything to bring about their own freedom. It had been long past midnight before their thoughts had settled on any kind of plan.  
  
So here they were together only hours later, sitting on logs around a cooking pot suspended over a small fire in the early morning chill air. Wisps of steam rose from each of their bowls of Chulakian fruit porridge that constituted the first daily routine of a Jaffa encampment. Their footprints in the morning dew on the grass marking their way to this spot would soon disappear in the heat of another day, and Sam was suddenly aware that her slow re-acclimatisation from the tropical heat of Andar to the more temperate summer on Chulak would no longer be a source of complaint for Jen or herself, certainly not after reading of Jack and Jeff's experiences back on Earth. She shivered involuntarily under her tunic, not so much from the temperature as from the anticipation of their next actions.  
  
She looked at Jen. "Maybe *I* should be the one to distract the guards while you and Teal'c fire up the engines." she said softly.  
  
Jen smiled wickedly. "No offence Sam, but I really think that, how shall I put this? The sight of little ol' lissom me emerging nymph-like from a cold stream in a wet tee-shirt is going to be more likely to keep 'em rooted to the spot than, say, the possibility of having one of the more chivalrous ones help an obviously pregnant lady stumble around......"  
  
Sam opened her mouth and glared at Jen in astonishment, only to have the funny side become suddenly apparent with Teal'c's response of "Indeed.", his face never losing the diplomatic neutral expression he had so perfected.  
  
Sam laughed out loud and made to get up in the clumsy way that her greater girth was forcing her to accept. "Very well, let's do it." she added in a cheerful voice, all uncertainties buried for the time being.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Chulak was just a bright sphere in the rear-view monitor of the Al'kesh bomber when Jen appeared back on the bridge, wrapped in a large absorbent cloth and vigorously rubbing her wet hair with one corner of it. She was still shivering, and seeing her plight in the reflection of the window in front of him, Teal'c reached over and passed his finger over an illuminated area on the side instrument panel that would raise the cabin temperature.  
  
It had been ridiculously easy for Sam and Teal'c to sneak into the Jaffa's prize capture as each and every one of the guards had stood transfixed at the sight of Jen splashing and squealing in the nearby stream. The scene that would linger in Sam's mind was her view from the side portal of the morning sun highlighting Jen's brazen walk out of the stream towards the guards, the steam rising from her semi-transparent tee-shirt when she stooped to pick up her dry clothes matched only by the suddenly- increased volumes of misty breath emanating from the gaggle of guards.  
  
"Hi boys! Do you mind if I change in your engine room?" Jen had said in a sultry voice, not pausing as she sauntered past their open mouths without stopping, entering the ship through the open doorway. One man who fancied his chances and followed her had been met suddenly and unexpectedly by Teal'c's fist as he entered the craft, to be sent sprawling on the ground outside as the door slid shut.  
  
"Everything OK, Teal'c?" asked Jen as she now stood in a draught of warm air entering the cabin from an overhead vent.  
  
"Indeed it is not, JenHailey." replied Teal'c.  
  
"What?....." Sam started to ask, only to be interrupted by Teal'c's explanation.  
  
"I trained some of those guards myself." he said. "I am disappointed by their foolish response to an obvious diversionary tactic."  
  
"Well, I'm not!" laughed Jen. "You can't fight the forces of nature, Teal'c! We'll be in charge of the Universe before you men realise it."  
  
"That is also my concern." replied Teal'c, and Sam could not help adding her smile to Jen's triumphant grin.  
  
But the levity of the moment soon passed as they concentrated on the task ahead. Four days of hyperspatial travel to Earth lay ahead of them, giving enough time to plan alternative courses of action. Sam took over the controls after Teal'c had demonstrated the similarities to a Tel'tak while he and Hailey surveyed the captured Goa'uld ship. Eventually, some two hours into hyperspace, they sat down beside her and offered her the biggest portion of the meagre rations found in the ship's small galley.  
  
"Come on, guys!" she protested. "Share and share alike."  
  
"JenHailey and I have discussed this, Samantha." said Teal'c. "We shall without hesitation obey your commands on this mission. But in the matter of caring for your child, we will not permit you to do anything less than provide adequate nourishment, nor anything more than the minimum physical effort required to return O'Neill and Grogan to us all. In this we are both determined and resolute."  
  
"I'm just happy for the lizard population around the Jaffa camp." added Hailey.  
  
Sam blushed, and silently accepted her plate. "So, what inventory do we have on board?" she asked between mouthfuls.  
  
"There are twenty-four high-yield, non-fissionable blast bombs in the bay." replied Teal'c. "The forward and aft plasma cannon are in full working order and capable of sustained fire for around ten minutes each before recharging becomes necessary."  
  
"The shield circuitry is a little different from the model that Jack and Teal'c captured a while back." added Jen. "Looks like it's been boosted a tad. I guess they must have beefed it up after we brought down a few on different planets. There's also four zats in the locker."  
  
"So we can more or less go where we like on Earth, then." Sam surmised. "Is there a cloaking device?"  
  
"None that I can see." replied Jen, scraping the last of the food from her plate.  
  
They sat for a while in silence before Sam spoke again.  
  
"We'll put on a show that Earth will never forget." she announced. "By bringing alien technology – sorry, Teal'c – into public view, the President won't have any reason to withhold the secrecy surrounding the Stargate program any longer. That might help to loosen the grip that the NID has over the SGC."  
  
"I believe that would be a good plan." said Teal'c. "I shall be proud to be seen as myself to the population."  
  
"What, no more cock-a-mamie hats?" Jen dug in, smiling and receiving a full- wattage glare in return.  
  
"We'll go for Jeff first." Sam continued. "We know where he is and we can more or less go where we please in this ship. If we went for Jack first and they got to know about it, we'd never get to Jeff. At least Jack has a small chance of evading capture out in the open once everyone knows what we're doing."  
  
"How will you persuade them to let him out of Leavenworth?" asked Jen.  
  
"Simple." said Sam. "I'll get help from high places, and failing that I'll threaten to blow the place apart if they don't. A short demo with the cannon should convince them. Look, Jen. I hope you realise that when we're done, there'll be no place for any of us to live on Earth again. They'd be forever out to bring us under control or extract revenge. This is a fight we cannot lose under any circumstances."  
  
"I know that." Jen replied. "I'm not objecting."  
  
"Very well." Sam's mantle of command came easily to her, and she continued to guide their planning session for the next few hours, considering and re- considering the irrevocable steps they were about to take.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"You assured me that our Air Force was more capable of taking out this intruder than any of the others!" President Schwarzenegger shouted at his aide. "So explain to me why, after their grand tour of world capitals, we can expect them on The White House lawns within a few minutes! And call off the goddamned fighters, too! They're just buzzing round inflicting collateral damage every time a missile gets deflected and hits the ground. I'm going out to meet them face-to-face."  
  
"I wouldn't advise that, Mr. President." said the black-suited NID man at the side of the oval office.  
  
"Shut up, asshole!" came the presidential retort. "It's your department that's got us into this situation from the outset. I *will* meet with the aliens when they arrive!"  
  
"Yes, Mr. President." the man replied, hanging back as his commander-in- chief left the room, and then starting up another conversation in his headset. "Boss? We're losing control of the situation here." he said quietly into the microphone. Recommend commencement of Operation Terminator immediately. Yes, Sir. I'll do that."  
  
The President stood in the centre of the gardens, surrounded by security men brandishing Uzi machine pistols and nine millimetre handguns. In the rear was a detachment of marines with heavier calibre weapons and shoulder- launched missiles. He stared ahead at the small view port in the Al'kesh as it hovered just three metres above ground. They could clearly make out the imposing, impassive face of a bald man wearing what looked from this distance like a golden Mercedes car emblem on his forehead. The side door slid open and to their surprise, an obviously pregnant blond woman dressed in an unusual style of tunic stepped out and walked round to stand close to the nose of the strange craft. Immediately behind her, a heavy cannon swivelled slightly but remained pointing away from them, a sign perhaps of non-hostile intent.  
  
A sudden slight movement from the woman was met with a short burst of Uzi fire from one of the NID security men, and everyone ducked as bullets ricocheted in several directions.  
  
"Cease firing!" yelled The President, getting up and walking forward towards the person he recognised from briefings with General Hammond. "Are you all right, Major Carter?"  
  
"Yes, Sir." Sam replied calmly. "Please tell the others to stay back. What I have to say is for your ears only." She waited until he was the only person within earshot. In the distance a whole foray of guns were pointed at her but it mattered not.  
  
"As you can see, the force shield around the ship is effective." She looked over towards the man who had fired at her. "You should know, Mr. President that the NID man in your office has just contacted his superior and called for the commencement of 'Operation Terminator'. We have been monitoring the NID comms net and can tell you that many of their people are on their way here, and not just to protect you from the threat that we might represent. I would advise you to place yourself in the hands of the Marines or Air Force personnel and evacuate as soon as we are done."  
  
"Thank you, Major, I believe you." replied the CIC. "Now please tell me what you are doing here. I see that your global air display has saved me the trouble of breaking the news to the nation and the world at large about extra-terrestrial contacts."  
  
"Yes, Sir. It's for the best, as you will see." Sam replied. "We felt that it would enable you and the legitimate forces of government to re-take control of the Stargate program. However, we are here for one reason and one reason only: to extract ex-lieutenant Jeff Grogan from Leavenworth prison where he has been imprisoned by the NID, and to collect my husband Colonel Jack O'Neill before the same agency organises a fatal accident for him. I would be most grateful for your assistance."  
  
"Which I shall be pleased to give." the tall man stated. "What can I do?"  
  
"Please ask for Lieutenant Grogan to be released from the prison and to be left alone outside the main gates. We will collect him from there in twenty minutes." stated Sam.  
  
"Twenty minutes to Kansas? That's fast going. What about your husband?"  
  
"Please make no public announcements about his situation, or that of Lieutenant Grogan. We stand a better chance of reaching him before the NID that way."  
  
"Very well. And thank you, Major. You have served the forces of freedom in our country well by taking this action. I look forward to meeting you again soon."  
  
"Thank you, Sir, but I doubt that will happen." Sam snapped a salute, which was promptly returned. Without further ado she turned and re-entered the Al'kesh and the crowd on the lawn watched in awe as it rose swiftly into the skies over Washington.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
The moment he stepped into the ship and the door closed behind him, Jen hugged the man she just knew she wouldn't be parted from any more. The immediate impression Grogan gave was of someone slowly recovering from ill- health, his dazed expression, skin pallor and thin frame contrasting strongly with the bronzed, fit woman who was now vowing never to let him get away again.  
  
He managed to break away from her embrace long enough to hug Sam and then grasp Teal'c's forearm in the traditional Jaffa greeting before being enveloped again. When he was eventually released, he saw that they were speeding over the ground at medium altitude but were already slowing down as a city loomed ahead.  
  
Sam identified the Denver police headquarters building and brought the ship to a hover some two hundred metres directly over it. Detective Pete Shanahan stood mouth agape as the noise and light from the transporter rings deposited his former girlfriend – his very pregnant former girlfriend – and the somewhat menacing alien she used to work with at the SGC into the wide expanse of the lobby. Looking round, she recognised him and walked over, coming to a halt a short distance away.  
  
"Pete." she said simply as she looked steadily at him, with no show of emotion.  
  
"Sam." he responded, still in shock at the manner of her arrival and noticing how she had changed since his time with her – deeply-tanned, somewhat harsher skin, the coarse clothing she wore and most of all, her impending motherhood. "What........"  
  
"I don't have much time, Pete, and I need a favour right away."  
  
"What sort of favour?" he added, still unable to take in the unreality of the situation. He was unnerved too by the penetrating stare that her companion was giving him. Could this be the father of her child?  
  
"Some weeks ago you and other police forces would have received a call from the NID to be on the lookout for Colonel O'Neill. I know that they gave instructions for him to be picked up and harassed wherever he went, so don't try to deny it." she stated. "I need you to check police computers and to track down the towns and cities where he's been picked up and the dates."  
  
On hearing O'Neill's name, Shanahan bridled and a stone expression set in. "I won't do anything to help that son of a bitch." he said firmly. "Why should I?"  
  
"Because I'm asking you to, as a favour." said Sam. "Please."  
  
"I won't help the bastard who took you away from me." Pete responded angrily. "I checked up on you two and the NID said you and he were breaking regulations for years. You used me. You can go to hell." He looked up at Teal'c, whose continuing stare was unnerving him, and then back at Sam. "What's O'Neill to you anyway? Another old boyfriend?"  
  
"He's my husband." said Sam evenly, and for the first time the detective noticed with surprise the ring she was wearing. "Now I'm asking once more, will you please help me?"  
  
"And I'm telling you once more to go to....." He didn't finish as Teal'c stepped forward, stopping only when Sam grabbed his arm.  
  
Help came from an unusual quarter. An older detective watching the confrontation spoke up. "I'll do it for you. I'm Detective Sergeant Eddowes, Ma'am. My daughter worked as a civilian supporting Colonel O'Neill's unit a while back in The Air Force. Spoke well of him. Come with me."  
  
"Sam!" called Pete as they started to walk away.  
  
"Goodbye, Pete." Sam answered without turning round. She had expected to be more upset than this about meeting him again, but she had begun to have a bad feeling about Jack's plight and the need to hurry was now at the top of her agenda.  
  
Minutes later, she and Teal'c returned to the lobby and were enveloped in the rings again, leaving empty space and a set of stunned officials. Her ex- boyfriend returned the stony glare of his older colleague who had just come back from helping them.  
  
"What are you looking at?" Shanahan said angrily.  
  
"Nothing much." came the gruff reply.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX 


	28. End Game

Chapter 28 – End Game  
  
"He's heading for northern Minnesota, I'm sure of it." said Sam, sitting by the side of the control console. "According to the police files, he's been rousted in nearly every town and city he's stopped in. Usually they picked him up and charged him with vagrancy, loitering in a public place, anything to put him inside for a few hours or days and then kick him out of town. The last place was Minneapolis three days ago, so he's obviously trying to make it to his cabin. We'll go there and if he's not around, Teal'c and I will wait while you, Jen, keep Jeff with you and scout the area in the ship. If Jack sees it flying round I'm hoping that he'll work out that it's us and try to find a way of attracting our attention."  
  
Within thirty minutes they could see the lake where Jack's retreat was situated, and Teal'c steered them smoothly and unerringly across the water to the small jetty next to his cabin. As he hovered above the lake, Sam was almost in tears at the sight before them.  
  
The wreckage of the small wooden structure stood as stark evidence of the depths of revenge and harassment to which the NID had been prepared to go to make sure that Jack O'Neill never enjoyed another moment of life on Earth. To their trained military eyes, they could see that explosives had been used to demolish the stone chimney stack, leading to the collapse of the roof and one wall. The contents of the interior – furniture, utensils, mementos – were scattered across the remains and the ground outside, and nearly everything that was breakable had been duly smashed. Sam's heart broke at the spectacle, and she was the first to step out of the ship onto the ground. She of all people knew just what this piece of sacred ground meant to Jack, and she prayed that they would find him soon. But underneath the fear and the uncertainty, she felt the distant, slow burn of an emotion almost unknown to her. Pure, unadulterated rage. Controllable for now, but coming out soon, of that she was certain.  
  
Teal'c soon joined her, equally upset at the treatment his dearest friend had received. "This was done some few weeks ago, I believe." he said, reaching out and gently holding her hand. "Rainfall has damaged the contents. However, there are also signs of fresh activity, and footprints lead that way along the lake shore."  
  
He noticed the distress in Sam's face, and turned back to the open door of the Al'kesh. "JenHailey, take the ship and fly slowly around the lake shore to the East. We believe that O'Neill has been here recently and may be found in that direction. We will commence walking. Collect us where you find us on the shore in one hour from now."  
  
On seeing that Jen had understood, Teal'c returned to Sam and explained what he had just told their companion. They watched as the craft lifted slowly and moved sedately off to the East, with Jeff's face clearly visible in the window as he began to search for Jack. Much higher in the sky were the contrails of circling F-15 fighter planes, keeping watch and ready to attack if ordered.  
  
"Teal'c, these tracks don't seem right somehow." said Sam as they walked along the faint trail, pushing aside low-hanging branches from time to time.  
  
"Indeed not, Samantha." he replied. "They indicate someone who is using an artificial support to avoid placing undue pressure on his right leg."  
  
"What, like a walking stick or a crutch?" she asked.  
  
"I believe so." he confirmed. "In any event, we shall gain on him fairly quickly at this pace as we are travelling faster. The tracks are quite fresh here."  
  
"Perhaps we should call out for him." Sam suggested. "No, wait. I'll do it. He'll know for sure it's me then and not the NID or the cops chasing him. He may have seen the Al'kesh but he won't know for sure who's flying it."  
  
She cupped her hands around her mouth and took a deep breath, exhaling as she shouted his name for all she was worth. "Jack! It's me, Sam! Jack! Where are you?" They continued to walk along and she repeated the calls several times.  
  
Suddenly Teal'c's radio crackled into life and they heard Jen's voice. "We can see him! He's about a kilometre ahead of you, just back from the shore line about fifty metres. He appears to have fallen and isn't moving."  
  
"Acknowledged." Teal'c responded. "We will make haste. Meet us there."  
  
"Negative, Teal'c." Jen came back. "We are tracking two black trucks coming up the road to the cabin. They're some distance away yet but it looks like the bad guys. I'll stop them, though."  
  
"Agreed." said Teal'c. "But try to use non-lethal means. I do not wish to unduly antagonise our opponents before we have completed our mission."  
  
"Spoilsport." replied Jen as the ship zoomed up and out of view behind them.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Sam ran the last thirty metres as fast as she could on seeing Jack's prone form in a small clearing. He was lying in a crumpled position on his right side, his leg folded awkwardly underneath him and a broken home-made crutch at his side. Her relief on finding a weak pulse was almost overwhelming, and she and Teal'c carefully turned him over so that he could lie on his back.  
  
They were shocked by his appearance. Like Jeff, he was a pale colour, having lost all of the deep tan he'd gained on Andar. His hair seemed whiter than before, and thinner. Clearly he'd lost weight since she last saw him – not that he had carried any excess fat before, but now he was almost gaunt in appearance. His skin was cold to the touch, his eyes red- rimmed and his breathing shallow. She sat cradling his head in her lap while Teal'c rubbed his hands to try to warm them and rouse him from his stupor.  
  
In the distance they heard and felt the earth-shaking reports that signalled that Jen was – hopefully – using less than extreme measures with the plasma cannon to halt the approaching vehicles. At least, Teal'c was hoping: Sam had a rather harder viewpoint.  
  
The shocks seemed to bring Jack round again and he opened his eyes fitfully, to find the one face in the Universe that he wanted to see staring back down at him. He tried to speak and his throat was dry, but the one word he wanted to say was just audible.  
  
"Sam."  
  
She bent down and kissed him gently, holding his face in her palms. The tears coupled with her trademark ear-to-ear grin that only came out in times of sheer delight assured Jack that he was not hallucinating, but he still spent several moments coming in and out of consciousness before he could respond with a weak smile. He saw Teal'c for the first time and knew instantly that his friend must have abandoned everything in his own life to be here. He squeezed Teal'c's hand weakly and was greeted with an equally cheerful grin from the Jaffa.  
  
Jack's next fully aware moment was back on board the Goa'uld bomber, where he found himself laying on a couch with Sam sitting beside him. In the background, Jeff Grogan smiled as he stared across from the other couch. Sam offered him sips of water from a cup, but he was still too weak to sit up by himself. He knew that he'd been near the end back there by the lake, his will to carry on almost spent after discovering the damage done to his only treasured possession, his cabin. He'd searched frantically through the wreckage only to find that the photograph of his late son Charlie had been ripped from its frame and torn in two. Despairing at the likelihood of never seeing Sam and Jen again, distraught by the discovery of the damage to his only possessions, lack of regular meals and exposure to the cold climate had meant that when he fell as a result of his crutch giving way, he no longer had the wherewithal to get up again.  
  
But now, thinking of Charlie made him realise something else. "Sam, stand up, please." he croaked. Concerned, she obeyed and stepped back from the couch.  
  
His face broke into an awkward grin, as though it was something he hadn't done in a while. He was transfixed by the sight of her beautifully rounded stomach that even the sloppy tunic couldn't conceal. Recognising the direction of his gaze, Sam reached for his hand and held it across her midriff, just as she had done on the first night she had suspected she was pregnant. Their eyes locked and an electric thrill ran through him, bringing him further back to life. He noticed too the plaster cast on her arm, and without waiting for his question, she merely lifted it slightly and laughed. "Underwater mishap."  
  
Wanting to do more to let him know that they were truly together now, Sam knelt down next to the couch and spoke softly so that only Jack could hear. "We'll have our own cabin soon, I promise you. It won't be on Earth, but it'll be somewhere for our kids and then theirs to grow up in. And I'm never letting you out of my sight again, Jack. Never."  
  
The sounds of an argument coming from the flight console drew them out of their reverie.  
  
"I believe I said to use non-lethal means, JenHailey." uttered Teal'c.  
  
"I was!" retorted the young woman. "I just got lucky with that first shot. I wasn't aiming to crater the road right in front of that car when they were travelling at that speed! They just sort of..... crashed into it."  
  
"Did they get in a call for assistance after the crash? called Sam, walking forward to join them.  
  
"Yeah, we heard them on the scanner." Jen said casually.  
  
"Very well. I'll take over now, Jen." Sam said with authority. Looking round, she said to Teal'c "If you have any objections to what I plan to do next, let's hear them now, Teal'c. It's what we discussed on the way here."  
  
"I have none, Samantha." replied the Jaffa.  
  
"Jen, make sure that Jack and Jeff are restrained on the couches and then strap yourselves in." Sam instructed her. "It's going to be a little rough for the next hour or so."  
  
As soon as all were settled, Sam moved the throttles to maximum atmospheric boost and the Al'kesh shot into the sky at a near-vertical angle for twenty seconds, climbing straight past the circling USAF planes that never stood a chance of being able to follow nor detect the direction in which they were headed next. At the boundaries of space where the sky was turning from blue to deep purple, she nosed it into the peak of an inverted parabola and dived back earthwards, heading for the fields of Pennsylvania and the Delaware River. Inside the craft the inertial dampening field protected the occupants from most of the effects of acceleration, but both Jeff and Jack, strapped down as they were to the sleeping couches for safety, felt distinctly queasy as the beds seemed to tilt first one way and then the other.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Workers and agents on the twenty-third floor of the NID Central Office on Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia were shocked on looking out of the window to find a black and silver spaceship blotting out the sun as it hovered just metres away from the glass frontage. They could not miss the overwhelming noise of a woman's voice heard simultaneously over the building's PA system and on what seemed to be a very high-volume loudspeaker situated outside.  
  
"You have ten minutes to evacuate the building before it is demolished. This is the final and only warning. Drop your work now and leave the building, moving as far away as possible." Those who looked saw the alien ship moving slowly from side to side, as though the occupants were checking on the movement inside through the windows. A rattle of small arms fire was heard as guards fired on the craft from the rooftop and the ground outside. Barely-visible flashes of bullets impacting the ship at first encouraged the would-be defenders, but when the large cannon on the underside swivelled and pointed downwards, they ceased firing and watched in awe as a bright stream of fire instantly produced a huge crater in the street some one hundred metres away.  
  
"Nine minutes." came the voice again. It spurred on the slow movers and the disbelievers, and those on the roof fled when the ship drifted up to their level and aimed the cannon in their direction.  
  
When onlookers began to approach from nearby buildings and streets, the ship began to move backwards and forwards along the Boulevard, emitting an eerie and highly-discomforting screech from its loudspeakers, scattering those in the vicinity.  
  
Two more countdown warnings and further manoeuvrings completed the evacuation, and Sam was satisfied that the time had come. "You say their mainframe computers are on the first floor, right?" she asked without looking round.  
  
"That's right." Jen replied. "I've traced the external downlink to their backup computers to Area 51 and a second set in a warehouse complex in Des Moines. The NID probably has minor data storage facilities elsewhere but we can wipe the biggest part of their files in these three locations. It probably won't take more than a one-second burst of plasma fire to ionise their hard drives to a frazzle."  
  
"No, they need to learn the lesson." said Sam coldly. The set of her jaw and the icy edge to her voice recalled for Jen the power that Sam could at times unknowingly hold over opponents or subordinates.  
  
Once more the cannon acquired its target, but this time Sam fired a five- second burst, walking the flaming arc that sliced through the windows of the building along the length of the first floor. Inside, a series of explosions. smoke and flames erupted. She then pulled the ship a little way back from the structure and repeated the firing pattern on other floors higher up. Out of the side portal Jen saw the few people who had lingered nearby – maybe NID men or just the overly curious, she couldn't tell – run away hastily as broken glass showered from the building and thick smoke enveloped the whole block. Jen's final view as Sam withdrew for the last time was the beginnings of an inferno, and then they were soaring rapidly to thirty thousand metres altitude again.  
  
Area 51 in Nevada presented a different kind of target. Sam knew that it would be heavily defended, possibly by the Air Force F-302's that could match the Al'kesh for speed. Although their upgraded force shield would protect them for the most part, aerial combat was best avoided altogether. She therefore headed down to the ground in a remote part of the desert, giving the impression to any tracking radars that they were heading in a different direction as she deliberately pulled out of the dive early. But once they were flying at dizzying speed just metres over the ground, she pulled a one hundred and eighty degree flat turn and the craft skimmed at over Mach three towards its second objective, keeping well below the radar horizon for the last one hundred kilometres.  
  
Sam knew the layout of the base from her time spent working there, and the low metal shed housing the computer banks was easy to identify. She set the targeting computer to lob a bomb into its heart as the ship pulled up into the sky two kilometres before it overflew the base. The rest was easy, and after the autopilot had triggered its release, Jen was able to view in the rear scanner monitor the entire graceful arc that the bomb followed on its path to obliteration. Still no fighters on their tail, either. Casualties on the ground – perhaps. Sam would find time to regret that later if it turned out to be the case, but for the moment she was driven by the need not only to settle accounts but to make sure that the NID would be damaged enough to be flushed into the public gaze.  
  
The warehouse in Des Moines was the easiest nut to crack. Isolated in the corner of an industrial zone, they scared off the inhabitants with a few bursts of cannon fire before she took pleasure in practically vaporising the building from above with a sustained burst of plasma fire. By the time the remains had cooled down, the metal and silicon of the computers would be melted into the vitrified concrete that was now the floor.  
  
Suddenly weary, Sam asked Teal'c to take over the pilot's console and she drew herself and Jack cups of water from the galley before sitting down beside him again. Jen was fussing over Jeff again, but unlike Jack, he could get up and walk around now.  
  
"Are we done with the roller coaster part?" Jack croaked.  
  
"More or less." she said, staring back at him. "Just time for a house call, and then we're off. To home, wherever that turns out to be."  
  
"Who?" asked Jack.  
  
"One guess." she said, smiling enigmatically.  
  
"K?" Jack wheezed, and relaxed again as he saw Sam's nod of confirmation. He couldn't help glancing down at his shattered knee. "Nothing too trivial in mind, I hope?"  
  
"You won't be disappointed." she replied and leaned forward to kiss his forehead.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Hovering over the Ohio River, the immaculate rear gardens of Senator Kinsey's country mansion were laid out before them through the front windows of the Al'kesh.  
  
"Put a shot through the house roof." said Sam coldly. "We're done waiting for him."  
  
Jen obliged, traversing the cannon slightly as she fired so that the whole peaked structure simply collapsed. She seemed very pleased at the results of her handiwork.  
  
Again Sam keyed the external loudspeaker and called "One minute, Kinsey. Come out into the rear gardens. Or don't you have the guts to meet me face- to-face?"  
  
A figure appeared through the back doors, climbing around the rubble that constituted the remains of the roof and walking hesitantly towards the river. Black-suited men stood in the doorway watching him move away. Sam eased the ship forward and hovered so that the side door was just above the lawn. Nodding to Teal'c to take over, she opened the door and stepped out by herself and walked towards the approaching man.  
  
Kinsey brightened a little when he recognised her and saw her obvious condition of impending motherhood, and the fact that she wasn't brandishing a gun. The two of them stopped and faced each other.  
  
"What do you want from me, Major Carter?" he said. "That....." he waved his arm in the direction of his ruined house. "Was so unnecessary and vindictive."  
  
"I want only to know why you manipulated the NID to hound Colonel O'Neill to death." she said in a steady voice.  
  
"To encourage others to see that the forces of law and order will not stand for opposition from mavericks like......" Kinsey began.  
  
"Try personal, petty revenge." Sam interrupted.  
  
"Like you've just done to my house? You are in no position to lecture *me*, Major. I'll make you pay for this as well. You'll never get to mother that brat you're carrying if you stay anywhere on Earth! Is that O'Neill's doing or one of the others you've slept with?"  
  
Sam's eye twitched but she didn't move. He didn't recognise the steely glint that had replaced her neutral expression and emboldened by her apparent lack of response, Kinsey continued.  
  
"I suggest you leave now, Major, before the Air Force comes to blow you all away. I've spent all the time I'm going to on responding to your threats. You'll not get away with this!"  
  
His own face froze as Sam's right elbow moved slightly and a combat knife slipped out of her right sleeve and into her hand. He couldn't comprehend the next swift movement of her arm, and he didn't feel the razor-sharp blade slice through his clothes and skin, leaving a red trail from his right hip across to his left shoulder.  
  
He merely stared at the spatters of blood on his hand as he clutched his chest in reaction, and staggered backwards, tripping over and falling heavily on his back. He looked up and for the first time noticed the terrifying look she was giving him.  
  
"You!" he spluttered. "You've murdered me!"  
  
"Not if your security guards like you well enough to get you to hospital before you bleed to death." said Sam coolly. "I hope you've been nice to them. The wound isn't so deep that you won't make it if they're *sharp*."  
  
She turned on her heel and strode back to the ship, dropping the knife onto the grass as she left. Held up by Teal'c, Jack looked on impassively from the ship's view port, staying only long enough to see her arrive back on board.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
In the gentle evening sunlight of a calm Chulak autumn, Sam looked contentedly on from her porch lounger as Jack strolled around the small clearing at the rear of their simple house. His face was a picture of pure contentment, something that Sam had only seen again in recent weeks. In his arms their tiny infant was soothed by the rhythm of his walk, as though his pronounced limp was adding to her sense of comfort. She had stopped crying and would soon be asleep.  
  
Someone, Sam couldn't remember who, had told her that you were supposed to 'train' babies to fall asleep by themselves and not allow them to manipulate their parents for attention right from the start. She had given up that idea before Grace Janet O'Neill was one week old, as it was apparent to all that her husband was the Galaxy's easiest push-over when it came to children of any age.  
  
Jack smiled at her as he carried the sleeping baby into the house and gently deposited her in the cot at the back of their only bedroom. Another 'rule' broken about the supposed need to give infants their own quarters. She knew that Jack wouldn't stint in adding rooms to this house or finding a bigger one as their children grew – see, there? She was already thinking in the plural.  
  
And that thinking was leading to the next treat in their lives. She knew that Jack would never suggest starting the process of creating their second child until she was ready. He'd been nothing but gentle, caring and obviously frustrated since he'd regained sufficient energy to re-start his life here on Chulak. And tonight, some ten weeks after Grace's birth, she felt more than ready to take that step with him.  
  
As Jack came out of the house to pass her a cup of herbal tea as she lay there, she smiled at him as she accepted it, but took his hand with her other one and placed the cup straight on the floor. She pulled him down towards her, sitting up at the same time to reach forward and kiss him.  
  
"Why, Mrs. O'Neill!" he said gently. "What can I do for you?"  
  
"Not what." she grinned at him. "Where. When. Here on the porch. Now."  
  
"But....."  
  
"But what? It's been over four months since we....."  
  
"The splinters, Sam. This floor's quite rough."  
  
"Gone soft, have you?"  
  
"I was thinking of you, actually."  
  
"Pig."  
  
"Do you realise......"  
  
"Stop thinking, Jack. That's my department."  
  
"No, do you realise that this is the first time we've made out in a house since we left Jobe."  
  
"Your point being?"  
  
"Nothing. I was just pointing out....."  
  
"Shut up, then."  
  
"Yes, dear."  
  
It took *ages* to get all the splinters out of his butt, and strangely, he didn't complain.  
  
XXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Author's note:  
  
Thank you so much to all the kind people who've sent reviews and e-mails. I am glad (and somewhat surprised) that you've followed the story to this point and that so many of you have said that you've enjoyed it.  
  
As Michele pointed out, I *am* a sucker for sequels, so you never know your luck. But just when, I'm not sure. This story took much longer to finish than I intended because work has been particularly stressful and time- consuming this year. Must go – the phone's ringing, and it'll be the boss again. If you read Dilbert, you'll know what it's like.  
  
Best wishes to you all. Enjoy life. Ted. 


End file.
